In December 2024 the Constitutional Court of Romania invalidated the first round of the country’s presidential elections, some 48 hours before voting commenced for the second round. The election was cancelled due to alleged Russian meddling in the campaign. While the presidential election was annulled in Romania, the parliamentary election, which happened shortly after the presidential one, was not. Independent candidate Călin Georgescu won the first round of the invalidated election, claiming 23 per cent of the vote. Georgescu, whose campaign was mostly conducted on TikTok, is accused of having received support from Russia. In addition to the Russian interference in his favour, it is also alleged that Georgescu undisclosed some of his campaign funding. The first and second rounds of the rerun election are scheduled for 4 and 18 May.
Although directly after the invalidation of the election results Georgescu rapidly gained popularity, he was eventually disqualified from the race. The Romanian Central Electoral Commission (CEC) voted 10 to 4 to reject Georgescu’s candidacy. Thereby, Georgescu became the second person to be banned from the presidential race—earlier, the Romanian Constitutional Court barred Diana Șoșoacă too from running. Just like Georgescu, Diana Șoșoacă has also been accused of holding extreme right-wing views. The female politician affiliated with the SOS Romania Party was elected an MEP in the summer of 2024. Unlike before, the court ruled to exclude Diana Șoșoacă from the presidential race due to her political views and the threat they would pose to the country’s membership in the EU and NATO. The Constitutional Court’s ruling in October was widely criticized as it excluded a candidate from the democratic process due to her views. Many argued in the cases of Diana Șoșoacă and Călin Georgescu that they should have been allowed to be on the ballot, granting citizens the chance to decide on the suitability of their views to represent Romania.
‘Currently George Simion seems to be among the electorate’s favourites for the presidential role’
The candidates authorized to run in the election in May include Bucharest’s mayor Nicușor Dan (now independent but formerly associated with the Save Romania Union, USR); and Crin Antonescu, supported by the Social Democrats (PSD), National Liberals (PNL) and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania. Leader of the Save Romania Union Elena Lasconi is running in May too—she earned the second place in the invalidated November election. Among the authorized candidates are Victor Ponta, the former Prime Minister of Romania, who made a somewhat unexpected comeback for the rerun of the elections. A right-wing candidate who was allowed to enter the race is George Simion from the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR). Simion advocates for the unity of Romania and Moldova, and was banned from entering Ukraine as he ‘questions the legitimacy of Ukraine’s state borders’. While back in November polls failed to predict Georgescu’s victory, currently George Simion seems to be among the electorate’s favourites for the presidential role.
The current American administration made its position clear about the Romanian scandals revolving around the presidential election back in February. At the Munich Security Conference, Vice President JD Vance harshly criticized the divisive court ruling, stating that ‘if your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn’t very strong to begin with’. Romanian authorities have also entered into a spat with Elon Musk, after the X owner criticized their ‘censorship’. Responding to Musk’s criticism, the Romanian social media regulator argued that it is fighting back a Russian information war, preventing election meddling. The row with the regulator was not the first Musk had with relation to the situation in Romania—earlier, the billionaire called the Romanian constitutional court’s chief judge a ‘tyrant’.
The media regulator, ANCOM, whose work Musk criticized, oversees the European Union Digital Services Act in Romania. The Romanian telecoms regulator called for suspending TikTok (until investigation concerning the manipulation of the electoral process is concluded) as early as 28 November (the first round of the invalidated election took place on 24 November). As of late March 2025, TikTok has not been suspended in the country.
Coincidentally, the US also postponed Romania’s inclusion into the Visa Waiver Program in late March, whilst debates are still ongoing about the invalidated elections. Romanian citizens were supposed to receive access to visa-free travel to the United States in March this year, but the US Department of Homeland Security announced that Bucharest will not be joining the programme just yet. The Department cited ‘stringent security requirements’ as a prerequisite for joining the Visa Waiver Program. Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu was quick to highlight that he is sure the decision is ‘strictly a technical measure’. Ciolacu added that the decision of the US ‘is not an affront related to the [annulled] elections in Romania, as has been speculated, it is not a reflection of the tense relationship between the United States and Romania’.
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