Romania: Presidential Election: Appeal by Far-Right Candidate George Simion Rejected

This time, it's done: Nicusor Dan's election as president of Romania has been definitively confirmed, following the rejection of the appeal by his far-right rival, George Simion. "Following its deliberations," the court "unanimously rejected the request to annul the elections, deeming it unfounded," according to a press release.

"The Court continues its coup d'état!" the unsuccessful candidate immediately reacted on Facebook. "All we can do is fight! I invite you to join me, today and in the weeks to come!" After largely dominating the first round on May 4 , the 38-year-old sovereignist, an admirer of Donald Trump and opposed to aid to Kiev, suffered a setback on Sunday, receiving 46.4% of the vote, compared to 53.6% for Nicusor Dan, a fervent 55-year-old European determined to maintain significant military support for neighboring Ukraine.

France accused of interference

The vote was seen as decisive for the future of the country of 19 million people, a member of the EU and NATO, as the Romanian president has the power to appoint officials to key positions and to attend EU and NATO summits.

After congratulating his rival on the evening of the results, George Simion reversed course on Tuesday and filed a petition to annul the election on the grounds of "external interference" from France and Moldova. While he acknowledged that his request had "little chance of success," he said he had "irrefutable evidence (...) of an orchestrated attempt" to influence the outcome of the elections.

The leader of the nationalist AUR party received support from Pavel Durov, the founder of the Telegram messaging service, who directly accused the head of the French secret service of asking him to "ban conservative voices in Romania." He also said he was "ready to come and testify" before the Romanian courts. France firmly rejected these allegations.

Romania's interim President Ilie Bolojan called on Wednesday for "respect for the will of the people" in light of the "significant gap in votes" between the two candidates and the "high turnout." "There were no incidents and no complaints from international observers," he added.

End of Georgescu's hopes

The Electoral Commission also refuted George Simion's "baseless" accusations, which were "purely aimed at undermining citizens' trust in state institutions." This trust was already shaken by the cancellation of the previous election on November 24, a rare decision that plunged Romania into a political crisis unprecedented since the fall of communism in 1989.

A virtually unknown candidate, Calin Georgescu, came out on top after a massive campaign on TikTok marred by suspicions of Russian interference. He was excluded from the presidential election and charged, but he hoped to win the prime ministership if George Simion was elected.