Sensational development of electoral events in Romania. Other than Russian influences: according to a reportsthe centre-right National Liberal Party allegedly financed a TikTok campaign that unintentionally favored the far-right independent candidate Călin Georgescu.
According to the investigative news agency report snoop.rotaken from Politico.euthe Liberal Party allegedly paid for a social media campaign through influencers and promoting a hashtag that was then hijacked to benefit Georgescu. The Liberals, who are part of the outgoing coalition, have seen their candidate, Nicolae Dudeonly in fifth place in the canceled first round. The TikTok campaign was commissioned to Kensington Communication. In a statement, the media agency expressed: “If the campaign has been cloned or hijacked in favor of one candidate rather than another, we ask the relevant bodies to verify and take the necessary legal measures.” They also specified that the original script sent to the influencers had been altered.
This latest event has triggered a serious political crisis in Romania and, consequently, the European Commission has initiated a formal investigation on how TikTok manages the risks of interference in elections, in response to the Romanian situation. According to the Constitutional Court, the electoral process presented “multiple irregularities”, which would have distorted “the free and fair nature of the voting experience” and influenced “the transparency and fairness of the electoral campaign”, violating the rules relating to financing.
The first round of the elections saw as protagonists, in addition to Georgescu and Ciuca, also the incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who came third, and Elena Varica Lasconi for the “Save Romania Union” party. The Constitutional Court, using information from the secret services of the Ministry of the Interior, judged the financing of the electoral campaign to be opaque and implicated the incorrect use of digital technologies in the election. The issue raises doubts about the legitimacy and nature of the Romanian Constitutional Court’s actions, especially considering Ciolacu’s position as both a candidate and head of the Executive.
Meanwhile the country moves forward. The new government of Ciolacu, once again Prime Minister of Romania, obtained the confidence of Parliament with 240 votes in favour. The ministers will be eight from the Social Democratic Party (PSD), six from the National Liberal Party (PNL) and two from the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania. It is to all intents and purposes a cabinet created to exclude right-wing and pro-Russian parties. The government was sworn in yesterday in front of the president Klaus Iohanniswho remained in office after the annulment of the presidential vote.
The electoral process was in fact decidedly messy. There Constitutional Court it canceled the vote for the renewal of the President of the Republic, where the pro-Russian party had won, but not that for the renewal of Parliament, where the pro-Europe parties of Prime Minister Ciolacu had emerged victorious (22%). “It will not be an easy mandate for the future government,” Ciolacu said in a statement Monday. “We are aware that we are in the midst of a profound political crisis. It is also a crisis of trust, and this coalition aims to regain the trust of the citizens, the trust of the people.”