Romanian presidential election: Far-right candidate Calin Georgescu banned from operating | EUROtoday

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Romania’s electoral physique has rejected a far-right populist’s candidacy for the upcoming presidential election rerun, sparking controversy and accusations of a “coup d’état”.

Calin Georgescu, who gained the primary spherical of the presidential election in 2024, submitted his candidacy on Friday.

However, the Central Election Bureau (BEC) refused to register him, a call met with rapid backlash from his supporters.

The BEC has not but publicly clarified the grounds for rejecting Georgescu’s candidacy, promising to publish a full clarification on its web site.

Georgescu has the choice to enchantment the choice to the Constitutional Court, which an adviser instructed Reuters he would do.

It follows the annulment of the preliminary election outcomes by the Constitutional Court simply two days earlier than the December 8 2024 runoff.

Allegations of Russian interference within the type of a web-based marketing campaign selling Georgescu led to that courtroom transfer.

At the time, Georgescu, operating as an impartial, condemned the annulment as an “officialised coup” and an assault on democracy.

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George Simion, chief of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians and a vocal supporter of Georgescu, echoed these sentiments on Sunday, labeling the BEC’s rejection as “a new abuse and a continuation of the coup d’état”.

The rejection throws the upcoming election into additional uncertainty and raises questions concerning the equity and transparency of the electoral course of.

“Down with Ciolacu, down with the dictators!” he mentioned in a put up on Facebook, referring to Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.

In February, prosecutors launched a legal investigation towards Georgescu, accusing him of “incitement to actions against the constitutional order”, supporting fascist teams and false declarations of electoral marketing campaign funding and asset disclosures.

Before the November 24 election, Georgescu, who’s underneath judicial management and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, had polled in single digits and declared zero marketing campaign spending.

Allegations rapidly emerged of electoral violations and Russian interference. Moscow denied that it had meddled within the election.

The first spherical of the rerun is scheduled for May 4. If no candidate wins greater than 50 per cent of ballots, a runoff will comply with on May 18.

The deadline for presidential candidacy functions is March 15 at midnight.