Opinion | Romania's annulled elections: Putting democracy to test

The events in Syria have been occupying the agenda, rightly so, in recent days. A repressive regime of 50 years collapsed in 12 days. Although the future remains uncertain, I salute all Syrians who had to live under the dictatorship of father and son Assads, who were tortured, killed, disappeared and forced to migrate. I share their happiness and honor those who lost their lives.

However, another development that has the potential to create significant uncertainty in the future took place in Romania, just before Assad's overthrow. The first round of the presidential election, which is held in two rounds, was held on November 24th. Unexpectedly, the independent candidate, Călin Georgescu, finished the race first and was pitted against the second runner-up, Elena Lasconi, the candidate of the Social Democrats. Or at least, he was supposed to...

Romania's Constitutional Court canceled the first round of the elections two days before the second round. The reason? Russian interference. Any evidence? No. The events of the last few weeks in Romania have once again called into question the democratic credentials of those who call themselves liberals, and are worrying for the future.

The dark horse: Călin Georgescu

Born in 1962 near Bucharest, Georgescu is a far-right agronomist. That means he studied agricultural science, economics and management. He later earned a PhD in soil science. Related to this, he is very interested in sustainable development. He has held positions in the Romanian Ministry of the Environment and at the United Nations that fit his expertise. In 2020, he was nominated for prime minister by the right-wing and nationalist AUR party. Georgescu, who left AUR due to his pro-Russian rhetoric and entered the 2024 presidential election as an independent candidate, was expected to receive 5% according to the polls. However, unexpectedly, he received 23% of the votes and drew a lot of attention.

Georgescu is known to believe in conspiracy theories, such as the Moon landing being fake, which led to him spreading misinformation during COVID-19. During the election campaign, he made pro-Russian and anti-NATO statements and was accused by other candidates of being ultra-nationalist and populist. Georgescu has always distanced himself from the European Union, seeing Putin as “a man who loves his country” and Russia as a country to cooperate with, not conflict with, and has described NATO's ballistic missile defense shield at its base in Romania as a “diplomatic embarrassment”.

Can't you win elections with TikTok campaigning?

Călin Georgescu entered the 2024 elections without a party and therefore—compared to other candidates—without money. He did not hold any rallies. The backbone of his campaign was TikTok videos. And he was good at it. His videos were viewed 52 million times in 4 days. This is an incredible number, given that Romania's total population is 19 million. His messages resonated especially with young people, farmers and those living in rural areas. The fact that social media influencers shared Georgescu's videos was also an important factor. Soon after the elections, some of the “corruption” allegations were based on this. How was it that Georgescu, who had no money, was able to get these influencers to advertise him?

Romania's Supreme Council for National Defense claimed that TikTok had granted privileges to Georgescu in such a way as to give him “extreme visibility”. TikTok denied the allegation and clarified that the same rules and restrictions apply to all candidates. In a rare move in history, current President Klaus Iohannis made public the report of the national intelligence agency on the matter. The report stated that Georgescu's growing support was “unnatural” and supported by “a state”. According to the report, as part of the campaign, which was managed through Telegram and Discord, some people transferred money to accounts with many followers on TikTok and had videos produced in support of Georgescu's campaign. In total, 25,000 accounts were involved.

Elections canceled without evidence

When asked, Georgescu dismissed all these allegations with a smile. Georgescu said he thought Putin was a leader and a patriot, but he was never a fan of his, adding that the country's intelligence agencies were fabricating “lies” and that he had nothing behind him but the support of God and the people.

However, Romania's Constitutional Court, to which one of the minor candidates in the presidential election had appealed on the grounds that the election had been rigged, first ordered a recount of the votes. Then, on December 2, it issued a ruling confirming the election results. On December 6, however, it announced that it had canceled the first round of voting altogether. 

It cited intelligence reports alleging that Russia had conducted a coordinated online campaign during the elections. So, despite the fact that there was no evidence other than some allegations, that no one during the campaigns claimed that Georgescu was “corrupt” and that there were no problems with citizens casting their votes or with the counting of the votes, the election was suddenly canceled when an unexpected candidate came first at the end of the first round. Now everything will start all over again. No date has been set yet, but probably in April there will be another, second, first round.

Does rule of law apply to liberals?

At this point, it is necessary to be frank. Because these are dangerous waters. First of all, I would like to say that as far as I follow, I cannot support Georgescu. We are at two different ends politically. I also don't have TikTok. I have no idea what kind of environment it is, how it works, what goes on inside. Therefore, what I am going to write next is neither in support of Georgescu nor TikTok. The point I want to draw attention to is that in the name of “liberalism”, a decision that even the most authoritarian regimes would hesitate to take was taken in an EU member country, and this situation was ignored by those who pretend to be “democrats”.

Let me first ask this question: What would have happened if a similar situation had occurred in the global South? For example, what would happen if an unrecognized candidate in Venezuela came first in the elections, there was no corruption in the counting of the votes, that is, millions of people actually voted for that candidate, and the elections were canceled without any concrete evidence? 

Probably everyone—the US, the EU, regional organizations, etc.—would have reacted and called on “the Venezuelan authorities to respect the will of the nation and fulfill the requirements of democracy”. But since Romania is an EU country and the first candidate is a far-right, conspiracy theorist and pro-Russia, everyone is silent. There are even those who think that the annulment is “a victory for democracy” and that the Constitutional Court “sent a message that electoral security cannot be disputed”.

The only serious reaction to the Court's annulment came from the other candidate in the second round, Elena Lasconi. Calling the decision “illegal” and “immoral”, Lasconi said:

“Whether we like it or not, from a legal and legitimate point of view, 9 million Romanian citizens in the country and in the diaspora voted for a certain candidate. We cannot ignore their will.” 

Of course, the fact that he will probably win the second round also played a role in her reaction, but is she wrong in her words?

Time to prepare for social media democracy

Democracy emerged as a direct form of government in Athens 2,500 years ago. By the 18th century, when it was rediscovered in Europe, it had taken on a completely different form. It was now a brand new form of government, with parliaments, elections and MPs, and later parties. For four centuries we were led to believe that elections were the “triumph of democracy”, where ordinary people obeyed the decisions made by “someone” and became passive citizens. Today, those who claim to be liberals and democrats applaud the cancellation of the votes of 9 million people without any concrete evidence as a triumph of democracy. It is time again to remember George Orwell and 1984, but this time for the “other front”. Because as the world shifts more and more to the right and populism every day, liberals have chosen the easy path of authoritarianism rather than a counterbalance.

Today, democracy is once again changing in content and appearance. The influence of social media is of course huge. Maybe Russia really interfered in these elections in Romania through apps. Maybe influencers were indeed paid to produce content. Maybe TikTok really did favor Georgescu and promoted him. Does that change the fact that citizens went and voted for Georgescu with their own hands and made him the winner? You can propagandize as much as you want on state TV and in the mainstream media and try to influence the citizens' vote, but when an outside candidate uses TikTok for the same purpose, it will be illegal. What a fair race!

Assad is gone but his spirit lives on in Romania

And there is another possibility: What if these allegations are not true, what if these interventions never happened, and Georgescu's campaign on TikTok was simply successful? What if the influencers made those videos because they really supported him and without any money? Another question is what will happen if Georgescu wins again in the elections in April—if he is allowed to participate. Will the elections be repeated until he loses?

What is happening in Romania is not promoting democracy, as claimed, but on the contrary strengthening the hand of authoritarian regimes. If you turn a blind eye to this in an EU member state, on what grounds do you object to authoritarian regimes like Assad's eliminating opposition candidates they see as a threat based on reports from their intelligence agencies that you cannot verify?

Assad has been overthrown, but his regime is spreading like a cancer even to the most democratic geographies. That is why our joy is short-lived.