Recount of Romania's first-round presidential vote
Following a complaint by a candidate who was eliminated, Romania's Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that the votes in the first round of the presidential election won by far-right candidate Călin Georgescu are to be recounted. The court is reconvening this Friday to decide whether the election will be annulled. The parliamentary elections on Sunday are to go ahead as planned.
This only diverts attention from the real crisis
EU election observer Constantin Mârza strongly criticises the recount decision in Contributors:
“With the exception of the two politicians who lodged the complaints and the nine Constitutional Court judges, no one doubted the credibility of Sunday's vote - neither the voters, nor other candidates, nor the parties. We must understand that we are in the throes of a political crisis, not an electoral crisis. Political crises cannot be resolved with formalities. It's tempting to think that a recount would solve the problem, but on the contrary, it will only deepen the crisis. ... The electoral process must continue, however imperfect it may be.”
Pushing the country into chaos
republica.ro's founder Cristian Tudor Popescu suspects that the recount was intended to push Marcel Ciolacu into the runoff after he narrowly failed – even though the prime minister declared on Thursday that he no longer wanted to run:
“With Ciolacu in the runoff, Călin Georgescu would easily win. Elena Lasconi, on the other hand, has the potential to defeat Georgescu. This is why all those forces who want to destabilise Romania and push the country out from under the protective shield of Nato and the EU want to eliminate her. With its ruling, the Constitutional Court is pushing the Romanian state into chaos.”
Parliament could keep Georgescu in check
Even a far-right president would have limited scope to change Romania's orientation in foreign policy, Élet és irodalom points out:
“It is worrying that foreign policy, national defence and disaster relief would primarily be in the hands of the president. However, the far right is not expected to have a strong presence in either chamber of parliament. ... So the parties could even suspend Georgescu if he started going too far - for example if he met with Putin. ... Romanian politics is unstable at the moment, but it seems we are still a long way from a situation in which far-right populism puts the country's EU and Nato membership at risk.”