Romania kicks off presidential election rerun following annulment of previous results

This was reported by Radio România.

Almost 18 million voters are expected to cast their ballots at 19,000 polling stations that opened at 7:00 a.m. across the country.

In the capital city, Bucharest, 1,289 polling stations are operating.

A total of 11 candidates are registered in the Romanian presidential election.

What’s known about the first round and Georgescu’s win

The first round of the Romanian presidential election took place on November 24, 2024. Anti-Western candidate Călin Georgescu won that round. In the past, he has referred to Romanian fascist politicians from the 1930s as national heroes and martyrs, criticized NATO and Romania’s stance on Ukraine, and said the country should work with Russia instead of confronting it. Recently, he also stated that if elected president, he would end Romanian aid to Ukraine.

On November 28, the Supreme Court of Romania ordered a recount of the votes from the first round. The Romanian Central Election Commission had said a repeat of the first round could be necessary if the court annulled the results. Eventually, on December 2, the Constitutional Court of Romania ruled the first-round results valid.

The European Commission contacted TikTok over suspected interference in the Romanian election. Later, Romania’s Supreme Council of National Defense declassified documents related to Georgescu’s campaign. The data revealed that 25,000 TikTok accounts had been used to boost Georgescu’s popularity during the campaign. Bot farms may have played a role. Romanian intelligence agencies believe a large amount of money was spent on the operation, and its scale and reach “point to a state actor.”

On December 6, the Constitutional Court of Romania annulled the results of the first round of voting, which had been won by pro-Russian candidate Călin Georgescu.

At the end of April 2025, the Ploiești Court of Appeal overturned the Constitutional Court’s decision to annul the first-round results — a move the Romanian CEC and human rights groups say is final.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has sent a high-level official to Romania to observe the presidential election scheduled for May 4.