Romanian court annuls result of presidential election first round

The move comes after allegations of Russian influence via social media on the first round of voting.

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It means the process will be restarted from scratch, with the government due to decide a date for a new vote.

The first round was won by Calin Georgescu, an almost unknown far-right Nato-sceptic who has previously praised Vladimir Putin.

The court's decision comes after intelligence documents were declassified, suggesting Georgescu benefitted from a mass influence operation – conducted from abroad – to interfere with the result of the vote.

Hours after the court's decision, Georgescu told a Romanian TV channel that the country's democracy was "under attack", describing the verdict as a "formalised coup d'etat".

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4x2epppego

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