How easy it is to destroy a democracy in plain sight, while everyone is looking, and nobody is doing anything about it. God help us!
Constitutional Court upholds Georgescu election ban
Romania’s Constitutional Court has rejected an appeal by presidential hopeful Calin Georgescu against the Central Electoral Bureau’s (BEC) decision to bar him from taking part in a new election in May, according to the Associated Press.
On Tuesday, the court upheld BEC’s ruling, confirming the invalidation of Georgescu’s candidacy. The electoral body had dismissed his bid on Sunday, citing over 1,000 challenges. Georgescu was the clear favorite for the election rerun, polling between 40% and 45% in most recent surveys.
According to media reports, a crowd of supporters gathered outside the court in Bucharest, shouting “traitors” and “we are going nowhere.” They also chanted “Calin Georgescu is president” and “freedom,” with one woman holding a sign that read ‘Stop dictatorship.’
Georgescu scored an unexpected win in November’s presidential election first round, receiving 23% of the vote. The result, however, was promptly annulled by the Constitutional Court over alleged “irregularities” in the campaign. The politician is known as an outspoken critic of NATO and the EU, and a staunch opponent of supporting Ukraine.
Preliminary findings of an investigation into the elections scandal, reported by media early this year, indicated the campaign “irregularities” likely were the result of actions of a consulting firm associated with the pro-Western National Liberal Party (PNL). The firm presumably tried to derail another candidate, but inadvertently boosted Georgescu instead.
Last month, Georgescu was briefly arrested and charged with “promoting fascist, racist, or xenophobic ideologies” and plotting “anti-constitutional acts.”
The politician has dismissed all the accusations as politically motivated, claiming that (he) was being targeted by the Romanian “deep state,” and asked US President Donald Trump for help. Billionaire Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump, then reacted to Romania’s election turmoil, calling the decision to bar Georgescu “crazy.”
That was a lot of help! Pfft! This is the end of democracy in Romania and the beginning of the end in Europe. The EU will not come to Romania's defence for fear of losing the country from the EU. The EU is self-destructing in any case.
The BEC and the Supreme Court completely ignore the law in order to keep Romania in NATO, the EU, and the Ukraine war.
‘Romania under tyranny’: How EU-sceptic Calin Georgescu was barred from new elections
Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) has blocked Calin Georgescu’s bid to participate in the May presidential election. The right-wing, anti-establishment candidate’s surprise victory in the first round of the November vote had triggered a rerun.
The electoral authorities in Bucharest cited the outspoken politician’s supposed failure to “comply with the rules of the electoral procedure, violating the very obligation… to defend democracy.” BEC had previously received more than 1,000 complaints against Georgescu regarding his “extremist” views.
For some time, Georgescu was a member of the right-wing Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), but he left the party in 2022 amid internal feuds. While not associated with any party since then, he has managed to create a relatively successful online persona on several social media platforms in recent years.
Commenting on BEC’s decision to bar Georgescu from running for president, constitutional law expert Bogdan Iancu told the media outlet that Romania’s Constitutional Court would have to heed an urgent report issued in late January by the Venice Commission, officially known as the European Commission for Democracy through Law. In it, the advisory body within the Council of Europe wrote that the “cancellation of a part of elections or elections as a whole is justified only under very exceptional circumstances.” It further noted that any cancellation of election results on account of online campaign irregularities “should precisely indicate the violations and the evidence, and they must not be based solely on classified intelligence… as this would not guarantee the necessary transparency and verifiability.”
The report also referenced the Venice Commission’s Code of Good Practice from 2018, according to which, “deprivation of the right to vote and to be elected… must be based on mental incapacity or a criminal conviction for a serious offence.”
Proponents of Georgescu’s elimination from the upcoming election have in turn cited last year’s precedent where the Constitutional Court barred another right-wing candidate, Diana Sosoaca, from running for president, after analyzing her conduct and public statements and their implications.
So, Democracy has been dead for a year already in Romania. Does anyone care? We will.
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