Romanian Top Court Orders a Recount in Presidential Election
(Bloomberg) -- Romania’s Constitutional Court ordered a recount of all the votes in the first round of the presidential election, which was won by a little-known pro-Russian candidate, deepening the political crisis in the country.
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Top court judges will reconvene to decide whether to certify the result of the vote after the recount is completed by 2 p.m. in Bucharest on Friday, according to the statement Thursday.
Calin Georgescu, a fringe politician who ran as an independent and promoted himself on social media platform TikTok, unexpectedly won the first round of the election in one of the biggest shakeups in Romanian politics since the fall of communism 35 years ago.
The recount raises doubts over which candidate will eventually emerge to face Georgescu in the run-off on Dec. 8. Pro-European opposition leader Elena Lasconi beat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu by less than 3,000 votes to eliminate him from the race, in which 9 million ballots were cast.
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The court’s decision throws Romania deeper into political disarray, as it comes just days before parliamentary elections on Sunday. The run-off in the presidential race will follow a week later.
The judges on Thursday admitted a complaint by one of the losing candidates who claimed irregularities at some precincts.
While Ciolacu said he won’t comment on any court decision, Lasconi said the court is playing with national security and asked the electoral commission to handle the vote recount with care.
(Update with details from second paragraph)
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