The runner-up in Romania’s presidential election rerun revealed on May 20 that he has asked the nation’s top court to annul the election results over alleged foreign interference and coordinated manipulation, which he said affected the vote.
Dan, who is pro-European Union, took 53.6 percent of the vote to Euroskeptic Simion’s 47.4 percent, and won by a margin of more than 829,000 votes.
However, Simion has since said he has filed a request with Romania’s Constitutional Court to annul the vote, claiming he had evidence that France, Moldova, and “other actors” had meddled in the election.
As yet, he has presented no evidence of these allegations publicly.
“For the very reasons December elections were annulled: external interferences by state and non-state actors.
“Neither [France], nor [Moldova], nor anyone else has the right to interfere in the elections of another state.”
The May 18 election was held months after a previous election, in which conservative outsider Calin Georgescu won the first round, was voided by the courts following allegations of electoral fraud and Russian interference.
Moscow denied meddling in Romania’s politics.
Simion used the furor over the annulment of that election to build support and, after finishing in fourth place in last year’s nixed ballot, threw his support behind Georgescu.
Georgescu was prohibited in March from taking part in this year’s presidential rerun election.
In the first round of the new ballot on May 4, Simion won in a landslide, coming first out of 11 candidates, with Dan finishing in second to clinch his place in the runoff.
On May 20, Simion said he will ask the high court to cancel the May rerun on the same grounds the court applied when it axed the 2024 vote.
Hours after voting opened on May 16 for Romanians living outside the country, Simion accused the government in neighboring Moldova of committing electoral fraud, something both Moldovan and Romanian officials have denied.
He also told The Associated Press on May 18 that people were being illegally transported to voting stations in Moldova, affecting 80,000 votes, according to his allegations.
France’s DGSE foreign intelligence agency denied the allegation.
He was accused by the Paris prosecutor’s office of complicity in allowing drug trafficking, the sharing of child abuse images on Telegram, and refusing to cooperate with authorities investigating criminality on Telegram.
Dan, who, barring any unforeseen delays, will be sworn in as president in the coming weeks, has not yet commented publicly on Simion’s call to annul the vote.
In Romania, the president has a semi-executive role that includes commanding the armed forces and chairing the security council that decides on military aid.
He can also veto important EU votes that require unanimity and appoints the prime minister, chief judges, prosecutors, and secret service heads.
