Romania orders election recount after shock far-right win – DW – 11/28/2024
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The recount was ordered by Romania's Constitutional Court. Far-right populist Calin Georgescu won the first round of the presidential election and was set to go against centrist Elena Lasconi in a December runoff.

Summary

Romania’s Constitutional Court has ordered a recount of the November 24 presidential election after far-right candidate Calin Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round, despite polling below 5% beforehand.

Georgescu, critical of NATO and supportive of Russia’s Putin, will face centrist Elena Lasconi in a December 8 runoff.

The court rejected an application to annul the election, citing a missed deadline.

The decision comes amid reports of cyberattacks and allegations of TikTok of favoring the far-right candidate.

  • Furball@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    66·
    28 days ago

    For people who don’t know, this is very, very bad. The recount isn’t actually because of the far right lunatic but because a reasonable person with good ideas beat the corrupt ruling party candidate for second place very narrowly. This recount is basically a transparent ploy to shove the corrupt establishment candidate through to the second round

    • febra@lemmy.worldEnglish
      30·
      28 days ago

      And pushing the corrupt guy to the second place will give the far-right guy pretty much a free pass to the presidency.

        • febra@lemmy.worldEnglish
          5·
          28 days ago

          There’s an ongoing theory that the corrupt guy might want this to happen indeed. See, the presidency in Romania isn’t as important as it is in the US. We’re a parliamentary republic, which means that parties need to form a coalition so that they can vote in a government. There are some hints pointing in the direction that the corrupt guy might try to hijack the elections so that the far-right guy gets the presidency. This in turn would mean that the corrupt guy’s party can form a coalition government with the far-right parties and thus get elected as prime minister. It’s easier for them to govern with the far-right than with the progressives or center parties.