Călin Georgescu, frontrunner in the Romanian presidential elections to be re-run in May, has had his candidacy rejected by the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) for reasons related to the source of his campaign finances.
On the evening of March 9, 10 members of the country’s Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) voted against the validation of his candidacy, with just four in support.
It was stated that there were issues regarding certain differences in income compared to 2024, lacking clarification.
Georgescu is under criminal investigation on six counts, including membership of a fascist organisation and communicating false information about campaign financing. He has denied all wrongdoing, according to UK newspaper The Guardian.
According to an official BEC briefing, the candidacies of Georgescu, Ion Popa and Maria Marcu, all independents, were rejected. The BEC did validate the candidacy of the independent Nicuşor Dan, the current Mayor of Bucharest.
Judge Tudorel Toader told news outlet Digi 24 that, in his view, Georgescu’s candidacy was now over following the March 9 decision.
“There is a general principle that says in electoral processes: ‘One man, one vote and one candidate, one candidacy.’
“We are not coming back with other candidacies because it is a campaign team that verifies whether it meets the requirements of the law and I believe that you cannot invoke your own fault, that of not having drawn up the complete file,” he said.
Georgescu had already lost his case at the European Court of Human Rights regarding the December 6 annulment of the original election in November last year, where he won the first round.
BREAKING: Romanian Court bans right-wing candidate Carlin Georgescu from competing following his upset win
Protests are forming pic.twitter.com/U867P4JBXD
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 9, 2025
In reaction to the latest news, thousands of people demonstrated outside the BEC headquarters, where a large police force was present, having put up protective barriers, and resorted to tear gas to keep angry protesters at bay.
“Against the background of a decision of the Central Electoral Bureau, the participants in the undeclared public assembly forced the gendarmes cordon, in order to enter the institution’s headquarters. In this context, to calm the situation, the gendarmes used a hand sprayer with an irritant-tear gas substance,” a police press statement read.
Reacting on social media, Georgescu called the decision to invalidate his candidacy for the elections: “A direct blow to the heart of democracy worldwide!”
He added:” I have one message left! If democracy in Romania falls, the entire democratic world will fall! This is just the beginning. It’s that simple!”
A direct blow to the heart of democracy worldwide! I have one message left! If democracy in Romania falls, the entire democratic world will fall! This is just the beginning. It’s that simple!
Europe is now a dictatorship, Romania is under tyranny!
— Călin Georgescu OFFICIAL ACCOUNT (@CG_Romania) March 9, 2025
Politicians sympathetic to Georgescu shared similar messages.
George Simion of the right-wing Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party said the outcome was a “new abuse” and “a clear continuation of the December 6 coup d’etat“.
He claimed Georgescu’s candidacy was rejected without good reason and that the candidate’s papers were “in order”.
Ana Maria Gavrilă, of the Party of Young People (POT), said Romanians now lived in “a dictatorship” and that the BEC vote was politically-motivated.
There was also strong international reaction to the news.
Italy’s Vice Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said: “First they annul – with the polls open – the elections he was winning, then they arrest him, then they even exclude him from the elections for fear that he will win.
“Rather than ‘rearm Europe’, here we must re-found it to defend democracy.”
Thomasz Froelich, MEP for the German right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party said: “We are currently witnessing the biggest electoral fraud in the history of the EU” and “This no longer has anything to do with democracy.”
Supposed “Russian electoral interference” originally lay at the heart of the Romanian election scandal but no concrete evidence has been presented yet.
According to most recent election polls, Georgescu had been firmly in the lead to win the re-run the presidential elections.
In diesen Minuten erleben wir den größten Wahlbetrug in der Geschichte der EU: Nachdem der EU-kritische Kandidat Călin Georgescu den ersten Wahlgang der rumänischen Präsidentschaftswahl gewonnen hatte und die Wahl anschließend annulliert wurde, wurde nun entschieden, dass er zur… pic.twitter.com/oLcCvK52fk
— Tomasz Froelich (@TomaszFroelich) March 9, 2025
