European Court Declines to Reinstate Romania’s Presidential Election Results

Calin Georgescu, running as an independent candidate for president of Romania, gestures while speaking to reporters in Izvorani, Romania, after making it to the Dec. 8 election runoff, on Nov. 26, 2024. AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday said it won’t reinstate the first round of Romania’s presidential election, which had been voided over allegations of Russian interference via TikTok.

The November 2024 election saw a surprise victory for independent candidate Călin Georgescu, who outperformed several better-funded and more established rivals, including Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the long-dominant Social Democratic Party.

Georgescu’s success has been attributed to his effective use of social media platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, where he connected with millions of young voters.

However, before the runoff could take place, Romania’s Constitutional Court annulled the results, citing declassified intelligence reports that alleged Georgescu had benefited from a Russian-backed campaign to promote him on TikTok.

Georgescu petitioned the ECHR to reinstate the results as an interim measure. The court rejected his petition, ruling that it fell outside the scope of Rule 39, which allows the ECHR to intervene to stop governments from violating someone’s human rights.

“Mr. Georgescu’s request did not concern an imminent risk of irreparable harm within the meaning of [Rule 39],” the Strasbourg, France-based court said. It did not rule on the merits of the presidential candidate’s claims.

Earlier this month, a Romanian appeals court upheld the decision to invalidate Georgescu’s first-round victory. He is now expected to run again in a new election that will take place on May 4, with a runoff set two weeks later on May 18.

In the meantime, the European Union has launched an investigation of the alleged role TikTok played in the Romanian election.

On Dec. 16, 2024, the European Commission announced it had ordered TikTok to freeze all data linked to the election, alleging a breach of the EU’s Digital Services Act, which mandates that all social media platforms must “properly assess and mitigate systemic risks linked to election integrity.”

“Following serious indications that foreign actors interfered in the Romanian presidential elections by using TikTok, we are now thoroughly investigating whether TikTok has violated the Digital Services Act by failing to tackle such risks,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated.

“It should be crystal clear that in the EU, all online platforms, including TikTok, must be held accountable.”

Despite the alleged foreign interference, a majority of Romanians said it was a bad decision to throw out the election result, according to a national survey by the Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy, a Bucharest-based think tank. The survey also indicated that Georgescu would likely have won the runoff had the election proceeded.

Georgescu, 62, campaigned as a pro-peace candidate and has questioned Romania’s support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. He has also raised doubts about whether the country should remain in NATO, especially as tensions between the military alliance and Russia continue to escalate.

Georgescu is a prominent critic of a March 2024 agreement that transformed the Cold War-era Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base—located on Romania’s Black Sea coast, opposite Russian-controlled Crimea—into NATO’s largest military stronghold in Europe.

He alleges that Romania’s political elites, whom he refers to as “oligarchs,” annulled the election to secure the NATO base deal, which he says increases the risk of Romania becoming a frontline target in the event of a NATO–Russia war.

“For this reason, they ... cancelled the second round [of the election]. Because, again, I was and I am—and I should be forever—for peace,” Georgescu said in a Jan. 13 interview with podcaster Shawn Ryan. “Why do you have to have war?”