Romania court mandates recount in first round of presidential election News
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Romania court mandates recount in first round of presidential election

Romania’s Constitutional Court directed the Central Electoral Bureau on Thursday to reverify and recount all ballots cast in the first round of the presidential election.

The court’s ruling, made in accordance with Article 146(f) of the Romanian Constitution, empowers the Constitutional Court to intervene in electoral disputes. The ruling therefore mandates the reexamination of both valid and null ballots from the election, with the court instructing the Central Electoral Bureau to recount all 9,465,257 votes cast in the first round. The court also rejected a similar annulment request from candidate Sebastian-Constantin Popescu due to its untimeliness.

The results of this recount will be forwarded to the Constitutional Court by the Central Electoral Bureau, with a hearing scheduled for November 29 to review the findings of the recount.

The first round of Romania’s presidential election was held on November 24. The court’s decision came after candidate Cristian Vasile Terheș filed a request to annul the election results, citing procedural irregularities.

As Romania prepares for the second-round vote on December 8, the outcome will decide whether candidate Cǎlin Georgescu’s growing influence will propel him to the presidency. Georgescu secured a surprising first-round victory in Romania’s presidential elections, garnering 22.94 percent of the vote. His unexpected rise was largely driven by his strategic use of TikTok, where he effectively rallied supporters and leveraged the platform to boost his visibility. However, TikTok’s role in his sudden surge has raised concerns, with the platform now under mounting pressure to explain how it handled political content in the country. Romanian NGOs have called on the European Commission to investigate whether TikTok and other social media platforms complied with Europe’s social media laws during the election campaign.

Georgescu’s campaign places a strong emphasis on Romania’s agricultural sector, which accounts for 23 percent of the labor force and includes nearly 3.5 million farmers, the highest number in the EU. His proposals focus on supporting local farmers and increasing domestic food and energy production. In his 17-page manifesto, Georgescu advocates for the revitalization of rural areas, outlining a series of strategic measures designed to strengthen and modernize Romania’s agricultural sector, aiming to boost self-sufficiency and reduce reliance on imports.

 

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