Romanian court validates presidential election, rejecting defeated candidate's challenge to results

BUCHAREST, Romania — A top Romanian court on Thursday validated the results of Romania's presidential election rerun, shortly after rejecting a request to annul the results by the hard-right candidate who decisively lost the race to his pro-European Union opponent.

After deliberations on Thursday, Romania's Constitutional Court unanimously rejected the annulment request, filed on Tuesday by George Simion, in which he alleged that foreign interference and coordinated manipulation affected the vote.

The Court then validated the results and held a short ceremony attended by the elected President Nicusor Dan, the Bucharest mayor who won the tense runoff, beating Simion with 53.6% of the vote, a margin of more than 829,000 votes.

''I want to thank the Romanian people who turned out in great numbers for the May elections and, in doing so, gave legitimacy to the new president,'' 55-year-old Dan, a mathematician and former civic activist, said at the court during the ceremony.

''A new chapter is beginning in Romania's recent and contemporary history. I want to assure Romanian citizens that I understand the responsibility of the mandate they have entrusted to me,'' he said. ''There will be many challenges, and I hope that we will successfully overcome all of them.''

Simion, the 38-year-old leader of the hard-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, had conceded defeat after losing in the runoff to Dan, but later contested the results. The court said its decision on Thursday is final.

In his request to annul the election, Simion claimed he had ''irrefutable evidence'' that France, Moldova and ''other actors'' meddled in the ballot, but did not present any evidence. He also alleged that ''deceased people'' had participated in the vote, and that he requested it be canceled on the same grounds as the court's decision last year.

''We have no choice but to fight!,'' his post read. ''I call on you to stand with me, today and in the coming weeks!''

Election rerun held after previous vote annulled

Sunday's tense vote was held months after the same court voided the previous election in which the far-right outsider Calin Georgescu led the first round, following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which Moscow has denied.

The Court's unprecedented decision last year to cancel the election plunged EU and NATO member Romania into its worst political crisis in decades, compounded by a string of crises such as the war in neighboring Ukraine and a significant budget deficit.

Dan is expected to be officially sworn in next week, after which he must also contend with deep societal divisions laid bare by the vote, revealing a country where endemic corruption, inequality and an erosion of trust in traditional institutions and parties have fueled a broad rejection of the political establishment.

Dan will also face the challenge of nominating a prime minister who can garner the support necessary to form a government — a tall order in a country where strong anti-establishment sentiment led to the emergence of figures like Georgescu and Simion.

Simion capitalized on the furor over last year's annulment and, after coming fourth in the canceled race, allied with Georgescu, who was banned in March from running in the election redo. In the first-round vote on May 4 in the rerun, Simion won a landslide in a field of 11 candidates to enter the runoff.

Allegations of election fraud in rerun

Hours after voting opened on Friday for Romanians abroad, Simion accused the government of neighboring Moldova of election fraud, which both Moldovan and Romanian authorities rejected.

In comment to The Associated Press on Sunday, he reiterated claims that people were being illegally transported to voting stations in Moldova, allegedly affecting 80,000 votes.

As a member of the EU and one of the easternmost members of the NATO military alliance, Romania plays a pivotal role in Western security infrastructure — especially since Russia's full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022.