Romanian authorities raced to piece together how a little-known pro-Russian candidate won the first round of a presidential election that’s now been annulled as they carried out a crackdown of surging extremist forces.

Romanians had been due to go to the polls again on Sunday in a second-round run-off vote to decide their next president. The choice was between independent far-right candidate Călin Georgescu and the pro-Western centrist Elena Lasconi. The two candidates were running neck and neck in the polls.

Romania’s constitutional court has annulled the country’s 2024 presidential election process in a historic decision, meaning the first round which saw far-right ultranationalist candidate Calin Georgescu emerge as a narrow leader will now not count.

Romania’s top court has annulled the first round of the country’s presidential election after Russia was accused of orchestrating an online campaign to promote a pro-Kremlin candidate.

Romania’s constitutional court annulled the result of the country’s first-round presidential election on Friday, saying it had received evidence of alleged Russian interference.

Forty-eight hours before Romanians were due to vote in a presidential election run-off, the whole process was scrapped because of an unprecedented ruling by the constitutional court. The court's decision to annul the first round came after a far-right independent candidate,

Romania's constitutional court on Friday cancelled the country's presidential election following allegations of Russian interference in favour of the far-right frontrunner, just two days ahead of the run-off.

Officials just annulled the first round results, citing a TikTok social media campaign. Others ask, 'is this democracy'?

Romania’s top court ordered a restart to the presidential race following allegations of Russian meddling in the election, marking the first time in the country’s history that a vote has been annulled.