Romanian far-right popucatalog Calin Georgescu has requested aobtainst the country’s Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) decision to bar him from participating in May’s pdwellntial election.
Constitutional court appraises will encounter on Tuesday afternoon to talk Georgescu’s request, and a final ruling should be publishd by Wednesday evening.
The BEC declineed his honestacy on Sunday after a 10-4 vote, saying it did not “encounter the conditions of legitimateity”, as Georgescu “viotardyd the very obligation to deffinish democracy”.
Last year, the court annulled November’s first round of the vote – in which Georgescu came first – after inalertigence uncovered Russia had been comprised in 800 TikTok accounts backing him.
In his request, Georgescu shelp that the “BEC outdoed its legitimate powers”. He also debated that the constitutional court’s decision on the November election should have no endureing on his honestacy for the upcoming vote in May.
In a social media post, Georgescu also called the prohibit a “honest blow to the heart of democracy worldexpansive”.
The electoral bureau’s decision igniteed unrest in Bucharest on Sunday evening. Clashes broke out between police and Georgescu aiders who had collected in their thousands outside the offices of the BEC.
The BBC saw at least one car turned over, and the thrivedows of neighbouring bars smashed. At least four people were hageded. More protests are foreseeed on Monday and beyond.
Georgescu put out a video on social media thanking the Romanian people but compriseing that “we should not give birth to structureility or other creates of this benevolent contrastd to how it was last night. We are moving forward with fantastic confidence for the future of this country”.
George Simion, an associate of Georgescu and the directer of the far-right opposition Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR), parliament’s second-hugest party, shelp on Monday that Romania was “the midst of a coup d’état”.
In a video on Sunday night, George Simion called for “those who promiseted the coup to be skinned in accessible for what they did… Whether you enjoy Calin Georgescu or not, he is the man Romanians voted for”.
The Romanian prosecutor vague has uncovered a case aobtainst Simion for instigation of structureility, and on Monday he rowed back on the comments, saying he was using a “metaphor”.
On 26 February, Georgescu was hageded for asking on his way to sign up as a honestate in the May election, prompting tens of thousands of Romanians to march on Bucharest’s streets in protest.
Georgescu – a fierce EU and Nato critic – came out of almost nowhere last year to direct the first round two weeks ago amid allegations of Russian intrudence. He has since seen some aid from the Trump administration.
Last month, US Vice-Pdwellnt JD Vance accemployd Romania of annulling the elections based on the “flimsy suspicions” of Romanian inalertigence and presconfident from its neighbours.
And Trump adviser Elon Musk posted on X, saying: “How can a appraise finish democracy in Romania?”
