The first round of elections in Romania, in which Călin Georgescu emerged victorious, has been annulled. The annulment came after allegations of social media manipulation attributed to the winner’s campaign team. However, new findings reveal that the campaign was actually funded by a rival party.
Romania’s Constitutional Court nullified the first round of the presidential elections, which had been won by right-wing candidate Călin Georgescu. Although the court had initially deemed the voting valid, it later reversed its decision based on new evidence presented in annulment requests.
According to Digi24 television, declassified documents from Romania’s Supreme Council of National Defense indicated that Georgescu’s campaign was based on „organized manipulation” originating from outside Romania. The first-round winner has been described by some Western media as a „pro-Russian” politician.
Despite polls predicting support of only 4 to 10 percent, Călin Georgescu secured 23 percent of the vote in the first round of the presidential elections. He was set to face Elena Lasconi, the leader of the center-right Save Romania Union (USR), in the second round.
The Romanian tax administration, ANAF, discovered that the controversial social media campaign was funded by the National Liberal Party (PNL), whose candidate had lost in the first round.
Romanian newspaper „Gândul” reported that even before the elections, the creation of a TikTok-based platform for one of the candidates was raising concerns. The PNL hired the company Kensington Communication, which engaged 130 influencers from the FameUp platform to promote specific messages. Initially, the campaign funded by the PNL used the hashtag „equilibriumseriousness” but later switched to „equilibriumverticality,” a slogan used by Călin Georgescu’s campaign.
The owners of Kensington Communication, Răzvan Săndulescu and Cătălin Dumitru, admitted that the campaign was paid for by the PNL but claimed it was solely a series of briefs intended for public awareness campaigns. Kensington Communication stated that the campaign’s name was changed without their or the commissioning party’s consent. They denied conducting or being asked to conduct any campaign on behalf of Călin Georgescu.
