Romania's presidential election redo is a high-stakes test of its democracy following annulled vote

BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania's presidential election redo next month will be a high-stakes test for the European Union member's democracy after last year's annulled vote triggered the country's deepest political crisis since 1989.

Romania's Constitutional Court annulled the election on Dec. 6 after the far-right outsider Calin Georgescu topped first-round polls. The decision followed allegations of electoral violations and a Russian campaign promoting Georgescu, who is now under investigation and barred from the rerun. Moscow has denied it meddled.

''What happened last year was very serious and ... at that time, completely anti-democratic,'' Elena Lasconi, who came second to enter the runoff last year and is participating in the new election, told The Associated Press. ''It was not justified, in my opinion.''

Once a communist state until the end of the Cold War, Romania has spent decades trying to build strong democratic institutions. But last year's annulled election shattered public trust — and it could take years to repair the damage.

''I think the public trust in political parties, in public institutions, in the state generally was quite low,'' says Septimius Parvu, coordinator of the electoral program at Expert Forum, a pro-democracy think-tank. ''This dislocated even more the trust. It created an earthquake which would … leave marks in the longer term on the trust in democracy.''

Many feel Romanian authorities have not sufficiently explained what happened last year, which has left voters to wonder "whether this will be the final election,'' Parvu added.

A fragmented political landscape

Complicating Lasconi's chances in the rerun, her Save Romania Union party, or USR, withdrew its support for her last week in favor of incumbent Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan, claiming he has a stronger chance of winning the presidency. Lasconi labeled colleagues who moved against her as ''coup plotters."

She said it adds to the chaos in the wake of last year's election debacle, which has already left many Romanians disillusioned. ''None of the state institutions have assured us that we'll have fair elections,'' she said. ''People said in the streets, ‘our votes don't count'.''

Cristian Andrei, a political consultant based in Bucharest, says there is an ''underlying social discontent that could explode again'' unless political parties and candidates start to "speak to all segments of society.''

''The underlying issue in Romania is the widespread public dissatisfaction with the political class," he said. "It's important to keep reminding the public of what happened: that we were facing a campaign that attempted to hijack Romania's democracy using unorthodox and illegal means.''

Far-right rise sparks concern

Georgescu's stunning rise — from polling in single digits to leading the first round — shocked many observers. The Russia-friendly candidate, who has praised fascist figures from Romania's past, not only unnerved Brussels but raised urgent questions about foreign interference in European elections.

Like other EU countries, the far-right vote in recent years has grown in Romania, fueled by widespread anti-establishment sentiment. After Georgescu was barred from the redo, Romania's far-right, which holds about a third of legislative seats, scrambled to find a successor.

Up stepped George Simion, the leader of the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, or AUR, who came fourth in last year's race and later backed Georgescu. The second biggest party in the legislature, AUR, proclaims to stand for ''family, nation, faith, and freedom.''

Simion has drawn criticism in the past due to anti-EU rhetoric and remarks against continued aid to Ukraine, a neighboring country, which like Moldova, he is banned from entering over security concerns.

Romania's decision to annul the election, and the ban on Georgescu's candidacy, has been strongly criticized by U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Elon Musk and Moscow — which publicly supported his candidacy in the rerun.

''Geopolitically, we are in a very complicated situation,'' Lasconi warned.

The candidates and what's at stake

Eleven candidates are participating in the first round, which is scheduled for May 4. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the ballots, a runoff will be held on May 18.

Other key candidates include Dan, the Bucharest mayor running independently under the campaign slogan ''Honest Romania,'' and Crin Antonescu, who is backed by Romania's governing coalition and is running on a ''Romania forward'' platform.

Victor Ponta, a former prime minister between 2012 and 2015 who resigned after a fatal nightclub fire, is running on a MAGA-style ''Romania First'' ticket and boasts of having close ties to the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

After last year's events, data from local surveys should be taken with caution, given concerns about politicization. Still, a median of polls suggests a runoff could pit the far-right Simion against either Dan, Ponta, or Antonescu.

A Simion presidency could threaten EU unity as the war rages on in neighboring Ukraine. This is compounded by Trump's attempts to forge closer ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin as he seeks an end to the war in Ukraine.

Social media controversy

In the wake of the annulled election, the role social media allegedly played in Georgescu's success came under intense scrutiny when declassified Romanian intelligence pointed to coordinated foreign interference via the Chinese-owned video-sharing platform TikTok.

The case highlighted the threat large social media platforms can pose to liberal democracies, and the EU Commission responded by launching an ongoing probe into TikTok to determine whether it violated the EU's Digital Services Act in failing to deal with risks to Romania's election.

TikTok said it dismantled covert influence networks targeting Romanians in December, including over 27,000 accounts, which posted comments en masse via a ''fake engagement vendor'' promoting the AUR party and Georgescu, "in an attempt to manipulate Romanian elections discourse." It also removed more than 1,100 accounts impersonating presidential candidates.

TikTok stated it has taken steps to protect Romania's election integrity, including expanding its team of Romanian-speaking content moderators, working with a local fact-checking group to combat disinformation, and in-app tools linking to official election information.

The concerns over social media, however, have led to what some critics view as undemocratic overreach by Romania's Central Election Bureau ahead of the new vote. The bureau has drawn recent criticism for requesting takedowns of online political comments by private citizens.

Public doubt and disillusionment

The political turbulence sparked large street protests and has left many voters uncertain and divided.

''Society is a bit divided, it's fragmented in a way as a reaction,'' said Octavian Frecea, a voter in Bucharest. ''Only an isolated society isn't influenced from the outside … We are economically and politically dependent on everyone.''

As Romania heads into one of its most critical elections since 1989, the stakes go beyond who wins the next five-year presidency and may be viewed as a referendum on democracy.

''We've been divided for over 35 years,'' Lasconi said. ''Now Romania isn't just split in two — Romania is shattered into many pieces.''