The 59 polling stations set up in the Republic of Moldova for the second round of Romania's presidential elections have ceased operations. They were closed following the Romanian Constitutional Court's decision to annul the elections, IPN reports.
Voting abroad for Romania's presidential elections began on Friday at 12:00. A total of 9,000 voters managed to cast their ballots across the 59 polling stations in Moldova. Voting for Romanians in the diaspora, including Moldova, was initially scheduled to continue on Saturday and Sunday.
However, on Friday, the Constitutional Court annulled the elections and ordered the entire process to restart from scratch. The judges stated that "the electoral process for electing the President of Romania was compromised throughout all stages due to multiple irregularities and violations of electoral law, which distorted the free and fair nature of the vote, undermined the equality of opportunity among candidates, and affected the transparency and fairness of the electoral campaign".
The Central Electoral Bureau for Romania’s 2024 presidential election issued a decision to implement the Constitutional Court's ruling, immediately halting all voting operations and preparations at polling stations abroad.
In the second round of the Romanian presidential elections, independent candidate Calin Georgescu faced Elena Lasconi, representing the Save Romania Union (USR) party. Both candidates reacted strongly to the decision to annul the elections.
Calin Georgescu described the decision as an officialized coup, vowing that "things will not stay this way". Elena Lasconi, on the other hand, accused the Romanian state of trampling democracy, calling the annulment illegal, immoral, and a crushing blow to the essence of democracy.
