Despite reports of Russian election influence: Court confirms election results in Romania

Discoveries have been made that show “cyber attacks” with the aim of influencing the presidential election, Romania’s presidential office says according to AFP.

High-ranking officials have also noticed a “growing interest” on the part of Russia to influence the public conversation in Romania, writes the presidential office in a press release.

According to the opinion polls, the Social Democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and the far-right George Simion would take the top spots in the presidential election. But it turned out to be completely wrong.

Instead, it was the far-right candidate, the pro-Russian professor Calin Georgescu, who won the most with almost 23 percent of the vote. And the second place in a decisive second round went to liberal Elena Lasconi, mayor of the small town of Campulung, with just over 19 percent.

The second round must be held as planned

However, the result was very even and has been questioned. However, even the demands for a recount are controversial, and are called by some attempts to nullify the result.

Earlier, the Constitutional Court stated that the votes would be recounted, but on Monday a new message came: the votes are determined. Thus, the second round of the presidential election can be held on December 8 as planned, where Georgescu will face Lasconi, according to Reuters.

At the same time, parliamentary elections were held this weekend in Romania, where the ruling social democratic party PSD looks set to be the largest in Romania’s parliamentary elections. The second largest, the strongly nationalist right-wing party AUR, is expected to be and get a third of the seats in parliament.

sv-general-01