{"id":2377377,"date":"2024-12-06T19:55:01","date_gmt":"2024-12-07T00:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/romania-overturns-election-due-to-allegations-of-foreign-meddling-online\/"},"modified":"2024-12-06T19:58:08","modified_gmt":"2024-12-07T00:58:08","slug":"romania-overturns-election-due-to-allegations-of-foreign-meddling-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/romania-overturns-election-due-to-allegations-of-foreign-meddling-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Romania overturns election due to allegations of foreign meddling online"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fromania-overturns-election-due-to-allegations-of-foreign-meddling-online%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2377377&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In a historic ruling, Romania&#8217;s Constitutional Court annulled the\u2063 results of the\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-does-brian-kemps-victory-mean-for-ron-desantis\/\" title=\"What Does Brian Kemp\u2019s Victory Mean For Ron DeSantis?\">presidential election due<\/a> to allegations of\u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/did-president-trump-spring-a-trap-on-treasonous-democrats-on-election-night\/\" title=\"Did President Trump Spring a Trap on Treasonous Democrats on Election Night?\">foreign interference<\/a> via \u200bsocial media, marking the first\u2063 time\u2062 a country has overturned election results because \u200cof this very reason. The \u2062court&#8217;s decision followed\u2062 a declassified report from Romania&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/treasury-department-hit-with-large-scale-breach-national-security-council-now-involved\/\" title=\"Treasury Department Hit with Large-Scale Breach, National Security Council Now Involved\">intelligence agency<\/a>, which claimed that foreign\u2062 entities, possibly linked to Russia, manipulated TikTok \u200dto influence the election outcome \u2062in \u200cfavor of C\u0103lin Georgescu, \u2064an independent \u200bcandidate who\u2063 unexpectedly garnered 22.9% of the vote in \u200bthe first round.<\/p>\n<p>Georgescu, who ran a predominantly online campaign characterized by viral TikTok videos, had \u2063not participated in debates and was largely underrepresented in opinion polls. His\u2064 rise shocked the \u2063romanian political landscape, where he became the focal point of allegations concerning coordinated foreign efforts to boost his candidacy. Following the\u200c ruling, \u200cGeorgescu accused\u200c the \u2062court of orchestrating a &#8220;formalized\u200c coup d&#8217;\u00e9tat,&#8221; asserting that democracy in Romania faced grave \u2062threats.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2062 intelligence report indicated that paid\u200d influencers had promoted \u200cGeorgescu&#8217;s\u200d campaign and suggested\u2062 that some supporting accounts exhibited\u200c bot-like behavior\u2014raising concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.Citing\u200b the\u2062 potential for misinformation and coercive influence on voter \u200cbehavior, the court emphasized \u2063the need for voters \u2062to access accurate facts about candidates. The annulment decision came just days before the second round of voting, leaving the political future of Romania\u2062 uncertain and eliciting \u2062mixed\u200d reactions from the public.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Romania makes history overturning election due to allegations of foreign meddling online<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1726328\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>In a globally unprecedented move, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/romania\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Romania's\">Romania&rsquo;s<\/a> Constitutional Court overturned the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/2024-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"presidential election\">presidential election<\/a> results after Romania&rsquo;s intelligence agency alleged foreign interference through social media.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The episode makes Romania the first country to overturn election results due to allegations of foreign meddling through social media, a key flashpoint since <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">allegations began prominently emerging globally<\/a> after the 2016 U.S. election. In Romania&rsquo;s case, the court overturned the results after a declassified report from its intelligence agency alleged foreign interference via TikTok.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Journalists watch on their mobile phones a live interview for a local TV channel of Calin Georgescu, the independent candidate for presidency who won the first round of presidential elections, after the Constitutional Court annulled the first round of the country&rsquo;s presidential election, days after allegations that Russia ran a coordinated online campaign to promote him, in Mogosoaia, Romania, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo\/Vadim Ghirda)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The report came as Romania&rsquo;s political establishment tried to figure out how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3241612\/romanian-presidential-election-candidate-spells-trouble-nato-ukraine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"C&#259;lin Georgescu\">C&#259;lin Georgescu<\/a>, 62, running without a party, came in first in the first round of elections with 22.9% of the vote. His rise blindsided the entire Romanian political scene, especially as he hadn&rsquo;t participated in any debates, didn&rsquo;t register significantly in opinion polls, and didn&rsquo;t belong to a party, something almost unheard of in Romanian politics.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Georgescu ran an almost exclusively online campaign, centering on TikTok edits of himself. The edits were usually clips of his speeches interwoven with him riding on horseback, swimming in icy mountain waters, or fighting in judo sessions, among other activities. His account quickly went viral, garnering 3.8 million likes and 298,000 followers, while his videos routinely receive millions of views, <em>Politico<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/calin-georgescu-romania-elections-far-right-tiktok-nato-skeptic-russia-ukraine-exports\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"reported\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Romania has the largest share of per capita TikTok users in Europe, with roughly half of its 19 million population being users of the app, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zf.ro\/eveniment\/platforma-chinezeasca-tiktok-numara-9-milioane-de-conturi-in-romania-22575289\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"according to\">according to<\/a> data from the World Population Review.<\/p>\n<p>Georgescu was indignant after Friday&rsquo;s decision, accusing the court of launching &ldquo;practically a formalized coup d&rsquo;&eacute;tat.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Today, the Romanian state has trampled on democracy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We wrote history. It is time to show that we are a brave people. Democracy is under attack. &hellip; On this day, the corrupt system made a pact with the devil. I have only one pact &mdash; with the Romanian people and God.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The power lies in each one of us, the Romanian people do not give in. Be confident, be brave. Today is just the beginning of a new page in the history of this country,&rdquo; Georgescu continued.<\/p>\n<p>His TikTok supporters mentioned in the intelligence report were also defiant.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I appear on the declassified lists as the largest account that supported C&#259;lin Georgescu and I also appear as one of the people who continue to support him. And I support him, I don&rsquo;t back down, I walk alongside him,&rdquo; C&#259;lin Donca, a pro-Georgescu TikToker with 680,000 followers and the first influencer listed in the report <a href=\"https:\/\/adevarul.ro\/alegeri-prezidentiale-2024\/ce-mesaje-dau-tiktok-erii-care-il-sustin-pe-calin-2406968.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"said\">said<\/a> in a post.<\/p>\n<p>He speculated that Georgescu could be thrown in prison for 10-20 years for high treason.<\/p>\n<p>The report from Romania&rsquo;s security agency, declassified on Wednesday, alleged that paid influencers boosted Georgescu&rsquo;s account in the lead-up to the election and that some accounts supporting him showed bot-like behavior. The scale of the effort led to speculation that a foreign actor was behind it &ndash; not stated in the documents but understood by analysts to likely mean Russia.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Voters&rsquo; freedom to form an opinion includes the right to be correctly informed before making a decision. More specifically, voters&rsquo; freedom to form an opinion implies the right to obtain correct information about candidates and the electoral process from all sources, including online, as well as protection against unjustified influence, through illegal and disproportionate acts &hellip; on voting behavior,&rdquo; the Romanian Constitutional Court <a href=\"https:\/\/adevarul.ro\/politica\/cum-explica-ccr-decizia-de-anulare-a-alegerilor-2406998.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"said\">said<\/a>, warning that political advertising could become a &ldquo;vector of disinformation.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The announcement came just two days before the second round of the election was to be held between Georgescu and Elena Lasconi of the centrist, pro-EU Save Romania Union party.<\/p>\n<p>The Constitutional Court had previously called for a recount, after a senator from the country&rsquo;s largest party, the Social Democratic Party, or PSD, alleged fraud. The recount failed to uncover any widescale fraud, only finding that the PSD candidate was further behind than shown by the first count.<\/p>\n<p>Reactions in Romania were mixed, with Georgescu&rsquo;s opponents celebrating the decision and his supporters denouncing it.<\/p>\n<p>Social Democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who faced an upset loss in the election, praised the ruling as &ldquo;the only fair solution.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Romanians&rsquo; vote was blatantly distorted as a result of Russia&rsquo;s intervention,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The presidential elections must be rerun.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>George Simion, President-elect Donald Trump&rsquo;s ally and leader of the right-wing Alliance for the Union of Romanians, or AUR, who himself garnered 14% of the vote, expressed outrage over the results. He had thrown his support behind Georgescu in the second round.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Shame!!! Coup d&rsquo;&eacute;tat in full swing,&rdquo; he said, though urged his supporters against protesting, arguing that &ldquo;This system must fall democratically!&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Constitutional Court &#127479;&#127476; just annulled the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-people-most-willing-to-risk-nuclear-war-with-russia-are-those-less-likely-to-fight-it\/\" title=\"The People Most Willing To Risk Nuclear War With Russia Are Those Less Likely To Fight It\">entire electoral process<\/a> for the presidential elections, i.e. both rounds.<\/p>\n<p>SHAMEFUL!!! <br \/>Coup d&rsquo;etat in full force! <br \/>We are not taking to the streets, <br \/>we will not be challenged, <br \/>this system must fall democratically!<\/p>\n<p>God bless Romania!<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; &#127479;&#127476; George Simion &#127474;&#127465; (@georgesimion) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/georgesimion\/status\/1865024349893263624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 6, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Perhaps Romania&rsquo;s most famous resident known by the United States, controversial influencer Andrew Tate, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Cobratate\/status\/1865055398954230024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"denounced\">denounced<\/a> the court&rsquo;s move and attempted to discredit the human trafficking charges against himself.<\/p>\n<p>Georgescu has garnered international attention for expressing several fascist views. He described Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, founder of the syncretic fascist Iron Guard, and Ion Antonescu, leader of Romania during World War II and ally of Nazi Germany, as &ldquo;heroes.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Particularly notable are his views on NATO, Russia, and Ukraine. In interviews, Georgescu said that Romania wasn&rsquo;t ready to independently handle diplomacy and strategy and should instead rely on &ldquo;Russian wisdom,&rdquo; the&nbsp;<em>Guardian<\/em>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2024\/nov\/25\/calin-georgescu-romania-election-hard-right-candidate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>. Local media reported that he has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as &ldquo;a man who loves his country&rdquo; and called Ukraine &ldquo;an invented state,&rdquo; a line frequently used by Putin and the Russian state.<\/p>\n<p>Georgescu has criticized the establishment of a NATO missile defense system at the Deveselu Military Base, one of Putin&rsquo;s main contentions before the invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1726328\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1726328\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Romania&#8217;s court overturns election results over foreign meddling claims<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2653,"featured_media":2377378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Georgescu.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[5609,3728,46299,12466],"class_list":["post-2377377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-allegations","tag-election","tag-foreign-meddling","tag-romania"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Georgescu.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2377377"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2377381,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377377\/revisions\/2377381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2377378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2377377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2377377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2377377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}