Romania’s election body rejects far-right Diana Sosoaca’s presidential bid, approves George Simion

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania’s electoral body Saturday rejected the candidacy of a controversial far-right politician in the presidential election rerun in May, but approved George Simion, the leader of the country’s most popular far-right party.

The Central Election Bureau, or BEC, rejected Diana Sosoaca’s bid, which was filed on Thursday in the capital, Bucharest. She said she will appeal the bureau’s decision, which has to be submitted to the Constitutional Court within 24 hours.

The bureau said in its decision that it barred the pro-Russia Sosoaca, a former lawyer and leader of the far-right nationalist S.O.S. Romania party, from entering the race on the same grounds that she was excluded from last year’s annulled election. The CCR argued that her public discourse, including opposition to Romania’s European Union and NATO memberships, made her unfit to uphold the constitutional obligations of the presidency.

In a public letter posted online and addressed to U.S. President Donald Trump after the bureau’s decision, Sosoaca, 49, claimed that “the democratic system has been destroyed and that the elections have already been rigged.”

Not PARSE.LY: George Simion

Romania’s George Simion bids for the presidency, seeking to rally far-right votes in election rerun

 

Romania’s George Simion bids for the presidency, seeking to rally far-right votes in election rerun

 

The court’s decision to bar her from last year’s race drew strong criticism from some civil rights groups and politicians, who denounced it as undermining democracy or politically motivated.

However, on Saturday, the election bureau validated the candidacy of Simion, who leads the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, which is Romania’s second biggest party in the legislature.

‘Return to democracy’

Simion, 38, who is under criminal investigation for inciting violence after last year’s first-round winner Calin Georgescu was barred this week from entering the May rerun, has expressed concerns that he could also be excluded from the upcoming race.

“Now let’s see if we can pass the CCR and return to democracy,” he wrote on Facebook. Simion — who came fourth in the first round of last year’s race with 13.8% of the vote — has denied any wrongdoing and claimed the investigation is politically motivated.

“I risk being subjected to the same abusive treatment … If they eliminated two, they think they can eliminate a third,” he told a news conference Friday after filing his candidacy.

Simion has stirred controversy on occasion. He campaigned for reunification with neighboring Moldova, which has barred him from entering the country. He is also banned from neighboring Ukraine, where authorities cited security concerns.

The Constitutional Court annulled last year’s election two days before the Dec. 8 runoff, after allegations emerged that Russia had run a coordinated online campaign to promote far-right Georgescu, who ran as an independent. Moscow has denied meddling in the election.

The court’s unprecedented decision last year plunged the European Union and NATO member country into a protracted political crisis and has drawn criticism from U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Elon Musk and Moscow.

Presidential rerun scheduled for May 4

Like other countries in Europe, the far-right vote has gained momentum in Romania in recent years.

In 2020, Simion’s AUR party — which proclaims to stand for “family, nation, faith, and freedom” — doubled its support in a parliamentary election on Dec. 1 with 18.2%, up from 9% four years earlier.

On Saturday, thousands of demonstrators gathered in central Bucharest waved European Union and Romanian flags at a pro-EU rally to counter what the organizers described as a “wave of sovereignism and ultranationalism” that “threatens our unity.”

“We are here to encourage each other because it is a very troubled period in Europe, the extremes are on the rise, especially the far right,” Mihai Calin, an actor at the National Theatre Bucharest, told The Associated Press. “The impairment of Europe is underway. ... People are in danger of discouragement, disappointment. So we need to gather together to reunite.”

The BEC also approved the candidacy of pro-Western Elena Lasconi, leader of the Save Romania Union party, who was set to face Georgescu in the scheduled runoff last year.

The first round of the presidential rerun is scheduled for May 4. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the ballots, a runoff will he held May 18. The deadline for presidential candidacy bids closes at midnight on Saturday.

Factoring in potential candidacy rejections and subsequent appeals, the final list of confirmed candidates will be known on March 19.