Constitutional Court cancels presidential election in Romania, government sets new date for first round

The elections will be repeated from the beginning.
Romania's presidential elections will be repeated after the Constitutional Court annulled the entire electoral process, BGNES reports.
The government will set the new date for the first round. The Constitutional Court made its decision after receiving four separate appeals, Romanian media reported. The court considered that "the procedures for a free election were not respected" on 24 November.
The ruling comes two days before the planned second round of the elections (8 December), in which pro-Russian Calin Georgescu and Elena Lasconi were to face each other. 
More than 30,000 people from the Romanian diaspora have already exercised their right to vote, Agerpres reports.
The appeals have been filed by the National School of Political and Administrative Sciences (NSPAS), the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, the publication Calea Europeană and the independent candidate Cristian Terjes.
Declassified reports submitted by the security services show a pre-prepared operation in favour of Calin Georgescu, which was organised in such a way that a 'state actor' appears to have been involved.
The European Commission has given TikTok a 24-hour deadline to provide information on the alleged interference in Romania's presidential elections. The Chinese-owned social network was accused of creating preferential conditions for Georgescu that helped him reach the largest possible audience in the election campaign. | BGNES