The Romanian constitutional court has upheld a ban preventing far-right candidate Călin Georgescu from participating in the country’s upcoming presidential election, in a ruling that has sparked both domestic and international controversy.
The court’s decision, announced on Tuesday, backs an earlier ruling by Romania’s electoral authority, which disqualified Georgescu from the May vote for allegedly breaching election rules. The decision is final, effectively ending his candidacy.
Georgescu, who had led the opinion polls with the support of more than 40% of voters, had already won a first-round vote in November. However, the constitutional court later annulled that result, citing allegations that he had illegally benefited from a campaign orchestrated by Moscow.
The ruling has led to protests in Bucharest, where Georgescu’s supporters gathered outside the court to denounce what they claim is an attack on democracy. The Kremlin also criticized the decision, with President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stating that any election excluding Georgescu would be “illegitimate” and amounted to “trampling upon all democratic norms in the center of Europe.”
US Vice President JD Vance also weighed in on the controversy, suggesting that the move reflected European “entrenched interests” trying to suppress popular candidates they fear.
With Georgescu’s exclusion from the race, Romania’s political landscape has been thrown into uncertainty, as opposition groups seek to rally behind a new candidate in the upcoming vote.
