A month ago Mr Georgescu was seen as a crankish no-hoper, drawing about 5% in polls. But in the first round of the election on November 24th he came first with 23%. Just before the second-round run-off against Elena Lasconi, a lacklustre centre-right candidate, one poll had him leading with 58%. This was a political earthquake.

Romanian authorities raced to piece together how a little-known pro-Russian candidate won the first round of a presidential election that’s now been annulled as they carried out a crackdown of surging extremist forces.

A top Romanian court has annulled the first round of the country’s presidential election, days after declassified intelligence alleged Russia ran a coordinated online campaign to promote the far-right outsider who won the first round.

Romania’s constitutional court has annulled the country’s 2024 presidential election process in a historic decision, meaning the first round which saw far-right ultranationalist candidate Calin Georgescu emerge as a narrow leader will now not count.

Romanians had been due to go to the polls again on Sunday in a second-round run-off vote to decide their next president. The choice was between independent far-right candidate Călin Georgescu and the pro-Western centrist Elena Lasconi. The two candidates were running neck and neck in the polls.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle are unhappy with the Constitutional Court’s decision to rerun the election.

Russian efforts to influence the election process in Romania run counter to democratic governance, U.S. officials said after Romania's Constitutional Court nixed a run-off presidential election on Friday.

Romania’s top court ordered a restart to the presidential race following allegations of Russian meddling in the election, marking the first time in the country’s history that a vote has been annulled.