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Supporters of Calin Georgescu threw stones and bottles at riot police in Bucharest after the Central Election Bureau voted to bar the right-wing, pro-Russian candidate from competing in upcoming presidential polls.
The Central Election Bureau voted 10-4 to bar Georgescu, saying his candidacy did not meet the legal requirements and that he had “violated the very obligation to defend democracy”.
Georgescu condemned the decision as a “direct blow to the heart of democracy worldwide”. He now has 24 hours from Sunday’s ruling to file an official appeal with Romania’s Constitutional Court, which is expected to issue a decision on Wednesday at the latest.
I agree. Annul an election if you suspect interference, sure, but banning a candidate is downright undemocratic. It won’t even achieve their goal because it’ll give him and whoever he chooses to run instead of him a ton of extra publicity+popularity anyway.
Given that the nature of the interference in favour of Georgescu was an influence campaign, surely letting him run is just letting the interference happen? The effects of it don’t disappear just because you do a second vote