Piling confusion on controversy, a Romanian district appeals court has ruled barely a week before the rerun of the country’s presidential election that the constitutional court’s decision cancelling the original vote should itself be annulled.
Romania’s central electoral bureau said on Thursday night that the ruling by the Ploiești city appeals court would not affect the two-round ballot, due to be held on 4 and 18 May, and legal experts have said constitutional court decisions are final.
But the decision, which is likely to be overturned within days by the high court, has added whatmedia described as “unprecedented legal chaos”to an already contentious vote that has been the subject of fierce debate at home and abroad.
The original first round last November waswon by Călin Georgescu, a far-right, anti-EU, Moscow-friendly independent who declared zero campaign spending but surged from less than 5% days before the vote to finish first on 23%.
Theconstitutional court annulled the voteafter declassified intelligence documents revealed an alleged Russian influence operation, including multiple cyber-attacks on the electoral IT system and “massive” social media meddling in Georgescu’s favour.
In February, Georgescu, who denies wrongdoing, wasplaced under investigationon counts including misreporting campaign finances, misuse of digital technology and promoting fascist groups, and in March he wasbarred from standing in the rerun.
Romania’s far-right parties denounced the string of court decisions as an anti-democratic establishment coup, and national conservatives abroad – including the Trump administration – accused Bucharest of suppressing its political opponents.
The replacement far-right candidate, George Simion, is leading the polls ahead of the centrist mayor of Bucharest, Nicușor Dan, and Crin Antonescu, representing the ruling Social Democratic party (PSD) and the centre-right National Liberal party (PNL).
The Ploiești appeals court said it “admitted the claim” and “suspended execution of the 6 December constitutional court decision” annulling the election. A counter-appeal has already been lodged and will be heard by the high court within days.
A former constitutional court judge and justice minister,Tudorel Toader, told the Digi24.ro news outletthat constitutional court decisions were in any case “final, generate effects from publication in the official gazette, and cannot be subject to appeal”.
Toader said an appeals court judge “has no competence over constitutional jurisdiction, which is outside the judicial system” and such a ruling could “categorically not” be implemented. “Who knows what considerations he had,” Toader said.
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Another former judge,Cristi Danileț, agreed, telling Digi24that no court could “suspend or annul a decision of the constitutional court – even more so a decision that has already been implemented, by issuing the orders to organise new elections”.
Danileț said the Ploiești decision was a“judicial aberration” that resulted from “the law being applied in bad faith”. He said he suspected it was a result of “judicial engineering” to ensure the appeal was heard by a judge likely to find in its favour.
Several outlets reported that the justice ministry had ordered an investigation into whether or not the judge concerned had committed a disciplinary offence.
The election is being closely watched abroad: the EU would prefer not to have another nationalist disruptor in the region alongside Hungary and Slovakia, and Ukraine’s allies would prefer Romania, home to a bigNato base, to remain a strategic ally.