DISINFO: Euro-Atlantic institutions and the US behind annulment of Romania’s election
SUMMARY
Calin Georgescu’s electoral victory would lead to power shifting to the adherents of Romania’s sovereignty who are regarded by some powers as radicals and anti-system elements, so the Constitutional Court annulled the results. Foreign powers, namely the “Euro-Atlantic institutions” were interested in seeing Georgescu fail. Georgescu’s victory in Romania, a country where the US normally maintains complete political control, would have been an inconvenience to the United States. Therefore, the fact that Georgescu was a step away from winning the election drove the current US elites to take certain measures.
RESPONSE
Conspiracy theory not backed by any evidence, framing Romania’s annulment of the 2024 presidential election by the Constitutional Court as the result of Western interference. The goal of this disinformation message is to stoke anti-Western feelings.
While the Constitutional Court’s decision has caused controversy in Romania, there is nothing indicating that Western actors had anything to do with overturning the election results. The decision was adopted after the discovery of irregular elements behind Georgescu’s campaign pointing to a foreign interference campaign, especially through TikTok and illegal funding. On 04 December 2024 Romania’s government declassified intelligence showing massive hidden interference efforts in support of Georgescu, which Romanian secret services described as “aggressive hybrid Russian action”. The EU has demanded a full inquiry on Russia’s role in these incidents.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the collective West beefs up pressure on ex-Soviet states, that Warsaw wants to organise a Maidan during the upcoming Belarusian 2025 elections, that George Soros interferes in the internal affairs of countries in the name of charity, that Lithuanian cybersecurity manipulated votes in Moldova’s referendum, or that the West is using French citizen Salome Zurabishvili to take over Georgia.