Romanian runner-up pushes to get presidential vote nixed for ‘external interferences’

(MENAFN) Romanian presidential candidate George Simion has announced plans to challenge the results of Sunday’s election, alleging it was influenced by foreign interference—particularly from France and Moldova.

Simion, a right-wing critic of the European Union, lost the runoff to pro-EU Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, who secured 54% of the vote. The election was a rerun, following a Constitutional Court decision to annul the initial November results. That earlier vote had seen independent candidate Calin Georgescu come in first, prompting authorities to cite alleged Russian interference—claims Moscow has denied.

Posting on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, Simion stated he had formally petitioned Romania’s top court to overturn the latest results. He argued the same justification used to annul December’s election applied now—namely, external meddling.

Simion pointed to involvement by both state and non-state actors from abroad, emphasizing that “France, Moldova, or anyone else has no right to interfere in another country’s election.” He previously alleged the government had inflated voter rolls by about 1.7 million names and claimed voters were transported from Moldova to sway the outcome. His party, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), accused Moldova’s ruling pro-EU PAS party of organizing diaspora voters to support Dan.

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who recently accused French intelligence of trying to suppress Romanian conservative voices ahead of the vote, backed Simion’s claims and offered to testify to support Romanian democracy. France has rejected Durov’s allegations.

Meanwhile, Romanian authorities continue to assert that Russia interfered in the election, although they have not provided concrete evidence. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the accusations and described the election as “strange,” claiming the popular candidate was unjustly disqualified. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also rejected Bucharest’s claims, calling the election illegitimate and accusing Romanian officials of deflecting blame instead of addressing domestic electoral issues.

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