The Romanian court annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election

Romania’s constitutional court annulled the results of the first round of voting in the presidential election just days before the second round was scheduled to take place.

That means the process will start all over again and the government will have to decide on a new voting date.

The first round went to Calin Georgescu, an almost unknown far-right NATO skeptic who has previously praised Vladimir Putin.

The court’s decision comes after declassified intelligence documents showed that Georgescu benefited from a major influence operation – conducted from abroad – to interfere with the results of the vote .

Following the decision, Georgescu told his supporters to be patient and said he would “continue with the voting process”, implying that he would try to run for president again.

“Lies are quick and the truth is always patient,” he said by phone to a Romanian TV channel.

Asked whether his lawyers objected to the intelligence documents, he replied: “It’s all taken out of context. If they say it’s water then it’s alcohol.”

Outgoing Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said the court’s annulment was “the only correct solution after the declassification of documents… showing that the results of the Romanians’ vote were distorted blatantly due to Russian interference”.

In a speech on Friday night, current President Klaus Iohannis confirmed he will hold the position until a new president is elected.

He said Romania is a stable, safe and solid country, a country that has always supported Europe and is a safe and solid NATO ally.

The court’s justices met Friday morning, despite announcing the night before that they would not discuss new information regarding possible outside influence on the election for to the second round of voting.

The law stipulates that, in the event of cancellation of elections, elections shall continue on the second Sunday following the date of cancellation – that is, on December 22.

However, the court decided to order the government to redo the entire election process, and therefore the election campaign.

Last week, the court ordered a recount of votes in Sunday’s first round following allegations that social media platform TikTok gave “favors” to the surprise winner, Calin Georgescu.

Georgescu, a nonpartisan progressive, campaigns primarily on TikTok. The platform said it was “completely false to suggest that his account was treated differently than any other candidate”.

He won 23% of the vote, with 19% going to the runner-up, Elena Lasconi, of the opposition Alliance to Save Romania, and Ciolacu of the ruling Social Democratic Party in third place.

Lasconi condemned the court’s decision as “illegal” and “immoral”, saying “today is the moment when the Romanian state tramples on democracy”.

“Whether we like it or not, from a legal and legitimate point of view, nine million Romanian citizens, both domestically and in the diaspora, have expressed their preference for a certain candidate. We do not can ignore their will!” she said.

She was hoping to win her second-round match on Sunday, which has now been cancelled.

The Constitutional Court also rejected a complaint by two of the losing candidates accusing Georgescu of illegal campaign financing.

This week, Georgescu denied to the BBC that he was from Moscow.

He claims the political establishment cannot cope with his success and is trying to stop him.

The country is now in completely new territory politically. And no one is sure what will happen next.