Head of Romanian Constitutional Court explains decision to annul 2024 presidential elections
Simina Tănăsescu, the president of the Romanian Constitutional Court (or CCR), explained the decision to annul the 2024 presidential elections in a recent interview for TVRInfo. According to her, the decision was based on "three reasons extremely solidly anchored in the text of our Constitution. They fall within the competence of the Constitutional Court,” and were backed by the Venice Commission and the European Commission.
Specifically, the “reasons relate to the violation of the electoral rights of voters, the violation of the right to be elected of the candidates, and the blatant disregard of the rules regarding the financing of the electoral campaign.”
Tănăsescu emphasized that the highly contested annulment decision was not easy, but that it was made with calm. She further specified that some issues related to the electoral campaign and its financing were analyzed only at the end of the procedure, when the elections as a whole had to be validated. Other aspects, specifically how the presidential campaign was conducted, are regulated by other state institutions, not the Constitutional Court.
However, the justice said, the annulment was needed since “the violation of the fundamental rights of citizens, perhaps the most important of these rights, namely the right to vote, could not have been established earlier.”
Added to this were declassified documents, which were released later.
“When declassified documents showed a spectacular surge in popularity with absolutely nonexistent expenses or at least declared as zero, we had to analyze it from a constitutional perspective,” Simina Tănăsescu also stated.
The Constitutional Court decided unanimously on December 6, 2024, to annul the presidential elections and to fully resume the electoral process from the beginning. The ruling came as voting was already taking place outside Romania in the second round of the elections.
The unprecedented announcement came two days after the declassification of documents, which revealed an operation prepared in favor of ultranationalist candidate Călin Georgescu by Russia. The surprise candidate had garnered nearly 23% of the votes, finishing first in the first round of the elections.
The annulment caused widespread condemnation both internally and from the Trump administration. Georgescu is currently being investigated for complicity in an attempted coup d’état initiated by mercenary Horațiu Potra and 21 other individuals.
In the same interview, Simina Tănăsescu said that she never felt political pressures of any kind directly.
(Photo source: Inquam Photos | George Calin)
