Bucharest Court of Appeal confirms legality of presidential election cancellation

The Court of Appeal in Bucharest has ruled against Calin Georgescu's lawsuit, which challenged the Constitutional Court's decision to annul Romania's presidential election.

The decision, however, is not final, as Georgescu’s legal team has five days to appeal it to the High Court of Cassation, the highest judicial body in Romania, Caliber.Az reports, citing Romanian media.

Georgescu's lawyers have already indicated their intention to appeal the ruling, setting the stage for a prolonged legal process.

As noted by former Constitutional Court President Augustin Zegrean, such an appeal is typically not heard for at least a year, which could further delay any resolution.

Meanwhile, Romania is expecting a new presidential election in early 2025, likely between March and April.

Georgescu, an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential race, had filed the lawsuit along with the Coalition for the Rule of Law Association, challenging the annulment of the election process by the Constitutional Court. They sought to continue the electoral process and demanded a second round of voting between Georgescu and Elena Lasconi, who was the second-place candidate in the first round.

In the first round of the election, held on November 24, Georgescu secured 22.94% of the vote, while Lasconi, of the Union for the Salvation of Romania, came in second with 19.18%. The second round was scheduled for December 8. However, just two days before, on December 6, Romania's Constitutional Court intervened, annulling the entire electoral process and ordering that new elections be held, including a fresh campaign.

The annulment came after Romania’s intelligence services declassified documents revealing that Georgescu had illegally financed his election campaign. These documents also revealed that cyberattacks had targeted the country’s electoral infrastructure, further compromising the integrity of the process. As a result, the Constitutional Court deemed the election results invalid and called for a complete restart of the election cycle.

By Tamilla Hasanova