Călin Georgescu to appeal ECHR regarding annulment of Romanian presidential elections

Far-right politician and former presidential candidate Călin Georgescu announced in a message on X that he will appeal the annulment of the Romanian presidential elections before the European Court of Human Rights.

On December 6, 2024, as Romanians abroad had already begun to vote, Romania’s Constitutional Court (CCR) unanimously annulled the entire presidential election process, citing declassified reports alleging Russian involvement in cyber activities aimed at undermining the integrity of the electoral process.

The presidential election process started with the first round on November 24, which ended with the surprise win of EU-skeptic, ultranationalist independent candidate Călin Georgescuand reformist USR leader Elena Lasconi in second place. Now, the process is set to restart scratch, reportedly at the end of March.

"If Romanian justice has not brought justice and honor to the Romanian people, then perhaps the international justice system, from the ECHR, will do so for the good of all. Justice exists so that people no longer have to take justice into their own hands, provided that their fundamental, constitutional rights are protected!" Georgescu wrote on X.

The far-right politician, known for his advocacy against the EU and the aid that Romania has given to Ukraine after the Russian invasion, condemned the alleged corruption of Romanian politicians and judges. “Romanian justice, deeply possessed by the politics of evil, has condemned the people to accept corruption and injustice as a fact of life. We will no longer accept this, never again!" Georgescu also wrote.

People who believe their rights have been violated can file complaints with the European Court of Human Rights after exhausting internal remedies in their home country. Călin Georgescu’s critics, however, say that his appeal has no legal footing. “The right to free elections, as stipulated in Protocol No. 1 to the ECHR Convention, applies exclusively to legislative elections. ECHR jurisprudence has explicitly established that the exercise of this right in presidential elections is only considered if the head of state has legislative initiative or extensive legislative powers. This is not the case for the Romanian president, who cannot initiate laws and whose veto power is limited to the first version of a law,” said former Romanian MEP Cristian Preda in a Facebook post.

After the presidential election was annulled, Romanian prosecutors began investigating some of Georgescu’s financial backers. The politician had officially declared that he spent no money in the presidential campaign, although benefitting from a complex promotion scheme on Chinese social platform TikTok.