Rally participants in Romania demand resumption of second round of presidential election

Several thousand supporters of independent Romanian presidential candidate Călin Georgescu are holding a protest rally outside the Parliament Palace in Bucharest, where the Constitutional Court is located.

The demonstrators, who have come from various counties across the country, are demanding the annulment of the Constitutional Court's decision to conduct new presidential election and the resumption of the second round of voting, which was interrupted last December, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media. 

The unauthorized protest, called the "Great Judicial Union of Romanians" features participants waving national flags and holding icons while chanting slogans such as "Reinstate the second round!", "Călin Georgescu is a man of God!", "Thieves!" They are calling for the resignation of the Constitutional Court members and President Klaus Iohannis.

The protesters are also signing petitions addressed to the Constitutional Court, demanding the immediate resumption of the second round of the presidential election, which was unlawfully and unconstitutionally interrupted on December 8. 

The AUR (Alliance for the Union of Romanians) party has also called for a major protest in Bucharest on January 12, advocating for "freedom and democracy" in response to the Romanian Constitutional Court's decision to annul the presidential election. Following reports of alleged Russian cyber interference that compromised the integrity of the first round of voting in November, the Constitutional Court ruled that the entire election process from last year should be invalidated. 

This decision requires a rerun of the presidential election. Independent ultranationalist candidate Călin Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round and was set to face reformist Elena Lasconi (USR) in the second round on December 8. Under the new election timeline approved by the ruling coalition, the presidential election will be rescheduled for May this year.

By Naila Huseynova