BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) 鈥 After a ballot recount, a top Romanian court on Monday validated the first round of a presidential race in which a far-right outsider emerged as the frontrunner, plunging the country into turmoil amid allegations of electoral violations and Russian meddling.
The Constitutional Court鈥檚 unanimous decision came after it had asked the Central Election Bureau to recount and verify all 9.4 million ballots cast in the first round of the . The election bureau approved the request and proceeded with the recount.
Monday's decision is final.
Calin Georgescu, a , narrowly won the first round, beating the incumbent prime minister Marcel Ciolacu. Georgescu will face reformist Elena Lasconi, the leader of the Save Romania Union party, in a runoff on Sunday.
Lasconi beat Ciolacu by just 2,740 votes.
The recount was prompted by a complaint lodged by Cristian Terhes, a presidential candidate who garnered 1% of the ballot. Terhes鈥 media office said the court ordered the recount 鈥渄ue to indications of fraud,鈥 alleging that valid votes cast for Ludovic Orban 鈥 who had dropped out of the race but remained on the ballot 鈥 were reassigned to Lasconi.
He also claimed that Lasconi鈥檚 party had urged people to vote before some diaspora polls had closed, saying it violated electoral laws against campaign activities on polling day.
On Monday, the election bureau submitted partial recount results to the court, which did not include hundreds of thousands of the votes from Romania鈥檚 large diaspora.
Dominic Fritz, the vice president of Save Romania Union party led by Lasconi, said in a statement before that court鈥檚 decision that more than 8 million votes had been recounted, and that 鈥渘o one has found any reason to question the final results.鈥
Many observers had warned that invalidating the vote could further fuel the crisis that gripped Romania's political establishment in the wake of the first round.
Georgescu鈥檚 unexpected success prompted a series of protests by people who claim he is a threat to democracy and who are concerned with previous remarks he made in praising Romanian fascist and nationalist leaders and Russian President .
Many have attributed to his .
According to a report by Expert Forum, a Bucharest-based think tank, Georgescu鈥檚 account had an explosion, which it said 鈥渁ppears sudden and artificial, similar to his polling results.鈥
Without naming Georgescu, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis鈥 office said after a Supreme Council of 春色直播 Defense meeting last Thursday that an analysis of documents revealed that 鈥渁 presidential candidate benefited from massive exposure due to preferential treatment granted by the TikTok platform.鈥
Romania鈥檚 春色直播 Audiovisual Council asked the European Commission to investigate TikTok鈥檚 role in the Nov. 24 vote. Pavel Popescu, the vice president of Romania鈥檚 media regulator Ancom, said he would request TikTok鈥檚 suspension in Romania if investigations find evidence of 鈥渕anipulation of the electoral process.鈥
In an emailed statement to The Associated Press on Monday, TikTok said it was 鈥渋naccurate and misleading to ascribe his campaign activity solely to TikTok,鈥 and noted that Georgescu also used other social media platforms.
鈥淲e are highly vigilant against actors who seek to use deceptive behaviors to try to affect civic processes and work diligently to identify and remove covert influence operations,鈥 the statement said.
Separately, on Sunday in which pro-Western parties won the most votes and will look to form a coalition government. The ballot also saw a surge of support for far-right nationalists who made huge gains in the country鈥檚 legislature.
