Romania police raid houses after vote scrapped over ‘irregularities’
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Far-right, pro-Russian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu (left) surged to first place in the Nov 24 first round of Romania's presidential election, which was subsequently annulled by the country's top court.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
BUCHAREST - Romanian prosecutors searched several properties on Dec 7 in an investigation into potential illegal financing in the country's presidential election, a day after the top court annulled the ballot following accusations of Russian meddling.
The court ruled on Dec 6 that the election should be held again,
Prosecutors have not named the candidate whose campaign is being investigated, but documents declassified by the national security council
Mr Georgescu - who wants to end Romanian support for Ukraine against Russia's invasion, had attracted only single-digit support in opinion polls before the Nov 24 first-round vote but surged to first place
A second-round vote to decide the election had been planned for Dec 8, until the court's ruling.
No date has been set yet for the re-run.
The declassified documents showed the electoral process had been spoiled through vote manipulation, campaign irregularities and non-transparent funding.
Prosecutors said on Dec 7 three searches had taken place in the central city of Brasov.
"The searches target the possible involvement of an individual in the illegal financing of the electoral campaign of a candidate for the Presidency of Romania, through the use of sums of money... (that) could come from the commission of crimes, being subsequently introduced into a money-laundering process," prosecutors said in a statement.
Russia has denied accusations by Romanian officials of meddling in the election.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by Tass news agency on Dec 7 as saying "We are deeply indifferent to what they are doing there, trying to justify their machinations," commenting on the investigation into Russia's possible interference.
In one of the unclassified documents, Romania's intelligence agency said Mr Georgescu was massively promoted on social media platform TikTok
TikTok denies giving Mr Georgescu special treatment, saying his account was labelled as a political account and treated like any other.
Mr Georgescu said on Dec 6 the court's decision to annul the election amounted to a "coup". He urged election authorities to disregard the ruling. He has declared zero funds spent in the campaign.
Outgoing President Klaus Iohannis, who will stay on until the election is held again, said on social media platform X that he had spoken to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
"We agreed that we need to strengthen the security of social media, following the elections in our country," he said. REUTERS
