BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian far-right populist Calin Georgescu, who was barred from running in the country’s presidential election redo, will appeal the electoral body’s decision to a top court on Monday. He won the first round of last year’s race before a top court annulled the election.
The 62-year-old Georgescu will lodge his appeal to Romania’s Constitutional Court in the capital Bucharest, a day after the Central Election Bureau rejected his candidacy, accordingly to close political ally George Simion. The court will have 48 hours to make a decision.
Simion, who denounced the electoral body’s decision against Georgescu’s candidacy as a “coup d’état,” said on Monday that the bureau “does not have the right to reject a candidate when all the requirements regarding documents, signatures and forms are met. All the conditions related to a candidacy file have been fulfilled.”
“We don’t have high hopes,” said Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, but added, “We are going with Mr. Georgescu as a candidate until the end.”
The bureau cited in its decision on Sunday the Constitutional Court’s ruling last year to cancel the elections after allegations of electoral violations and that Russia had run a coordinated online campaign to promote Georgescu, who ran as an independent. The decision to annul the first-round results was made two days before the Dec. 8 runoff.
The bureau on Sunday said it would be “unacceptable for the restarted election process to consider the same individual as eligible for the presidency.”
Georgescu reacted Sunday by calling it “a direct blow to the heart of democracy worldwide” and said, “Europe is now a dictatorship, Romania is under tyranny!”
Hundreds of incensed supporters rallied on Sunday evening in Bucharest to express anger over Georgescu’s ban, with many waving Romanian flags and chanting: “Thieves!” And “The last resort is another revolution!” Some protesters threw broken paving stones at the scores of riot police, overturned a news vehicle and set a bush ablaze.
In a video posted to Facebook on Monday, Georgescu called on his supporters to remain calm. “We must not resort to violence or any other actions like those of last night,” he said.
The court’s unprecedented decision last year plunged the European Union and NATO member country into a protracted political crisis.
Last month, prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against Georgescu, accusing him of “incitement to actions against the constitutional order,” supporting fascist groups and false declarations of electoral campaign funding and asset disclosures.
Before the Nov. 24 election, Georgescu, who is under judicial control and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, had polled in the single digits and declared zero campaign spending. Allegations quickly emerged of electoral violations and Russian interference. Moscow denied that it had meddled in the election.
Georgescu has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and questioned Ukraine’s statehood in the past, but says that he’s not pro-Russia.
The first round of the rerun is scheduled for May 4. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the ballots, a runoff will follow on May 18. The deadline for presidential candidacy applications is March 15 at midnight.
