Romania’s top national security officials revealed on Thursday that the country was subjected to cyberattacks aimed at influencing the outcome of the first round of presidential voting. Additionally, concerns have been raised regarding the potential role of the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok in manipulating voter behavior, which is now under closer scrutiny.
The runoff election, set for December 8, will feature Călin Georgescu facing off against Elena Lasconi, a reformist candidate.
Complicating matters, a court has ordered a recount of the votes following a complaint filed by Cristian Terheș, a European Parliament member who ran in the election but garnered only about 1 percent of the vote. Terheș alleged that votes cast for another candidate, the former prime minister Ludovic Orban, were improperly redirected to Elena Lasconi. Orban had dropped out of the race just a week before the election—too late to be removed from the ballot—and subsequently endorsed Lasconi.
In response to the ruling, Lasconi’s party, the Save Romania Union (USR), appealed the recount decision to an appeals court in Bucharest, raising concerns over transparency. Party officials highlighted that the recount—covering nearly 9.5 million ballots—lacks safeguards such as video monitoring or independent observers. Furthermore, far fewer people are involved in counting ballots compared to the larger teams present on election night.
A crucial decision is expected from the court on Monday. If the first round of voting is deemed invalid, a repeat of the presidential election may occur on December 15, with a possible runoff held two weeks after that date.
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