The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) dismissed the election frontrunner Călin Georgescu’s appeal to overturn the Romanian Constitutional Court’s (CCR) decision to annul the presidential race last December due to still unproven allegations of Russian interference after Georgescu won the first round with no establishment candidate qualifying for the runoffs.
The Court declared the nationalist candidate’s complaint “inadmissible” since presidential or other executive elections are not covered by the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), which guarantees the right to free elections only when it comes to choosing the composition of legislative bodies, such as parliaments and local councils.
In the ruling published on Thursday, March 6th, the Court referred to Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 of the ECHR, which states that countries must “hold free elections … under conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature.”
Since there is “no indication” that the Romanian president’s powers make part of the country’s “legislature,” the election annulment does not violate human rights, the Court said.
This narrow interpretation of a single article was enough to throw out Georgescu’s core argument that democratic choice and freedom of expression are fundamental human rights under the ECHR, which even states in Art. 17 that “nothing in this Convention may be interpreted … to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.” Yet, that’s exactly what the ECtHR seems to have done by upholding the CCR’s election annulment.
Last month, U.S. Vice President JD Vance also condemned the cancellation of elections based on the outcome and warned that it may happen in other countries as well, as populist parties gain more ground. Commenting on the absurdity of the new ECtHR ruling, X owner Elon Musk also weighed in by questioning the legitimacy of the European court.
What is this court and how can they annul elections? https://t.co/6SUp6gOGmB
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 6, 2025
Meanwhile, Georgescu is under criminal investigation for undisclosed campaign finances and for alleged connections to an illegal neo-fascist organization led by members of his private security team who, according to prosecutors, aimed to overthrow the country’s constitutional order.
These charges were conveniently brought against Georgescu on the same day he tried to submit his candidacy in repeat elections in May, as he was detained by police thirty minutes after his announcement that he was heading to finalize the process as the official candidate of the largest opposition party, AUR (ECR).
In response, AUR and the two smaller opposition parties organized yet another giant protest in the capital last Saturday, calling for dropping the “bogus” charges, resuming the elections, and the resignation of the government led by a grand coalition between PSD (S&D) and PNL (EPP).
Meanwhile, the ruling establishment parties expressed their outrage on Wednesday over the Russian security services’ claim that the election was annulled on pressure from Brussels—despite the fact that this has also been admitted by former EU Commissioner Thiery Breton, who also threatened other countries, like Germany, with the same treatment.
Moreover, freedom of information requests from MCC Brussels also revealed that there are at least two infringement cases launched under the Digital Services Act (DSA) involving the canceled Romanian elections. Although the EU Commission still withholds any additional information about them, the existence of these cases already implies EU involvement, if not outright interference in the electoral process.
