Romania's Constitutional Court has ordered a recount of the first round of the presidential election after accusations that the social network TikTok allegedly favored Kalin Djordescu, who unexpectedly received the most votes.
The court dismissed the appeals of the other two candidates who accused Djordescu of illegal campaign financing.
The great support that Đorđeško received was the biggest surprise of the election.
He ran as a non-partisan candidate and campaigned mainly through the TikTok platform.
IzTikTok categorically rejects accusations that they favored Đorđescu, who is said to be a "pro-Russian candidate of the extreme right".
According to the data, Kalin Geogrescu won 23 percent of the votes in the first round, followed by center-right candidate Elena Lasconi from the Save Romania alliance with 19 percent.
Marcel Ciolaku, the current prime minister of the country who comes from the ranks of the populist Social Democratic Party and was considered the favorite before the election, took third place.
The function of the President of Romania is mostly symbolic, but it has significant influence in some spheres, such as foreign policy.
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The Central Election Commission now needs to decide how the votes will be counted again, who will do it and when it should be completed.
In post-communist Romania, a member of the European Union, a recount of votes in any election has never been ordered so far.
As things currently stand, Đorđeška and Laskoni should be candidates in the second round on December 8.
"Extremism is fought by voting, not by behind-the-scenes actions," Lasconi said.
"I call on the Central Election Commission to act wisely in recounting the votes. The law must be the same for everyone, and not be interpreted differently for some."
TikTok has also been accused of not following the election rules of the Supreme National Defense Council, Romania's top security body.
The platform "did not mark him as a political candidate," outgoing President Klaus Iohannis, who convened the council, said.
TikTok, a network owned by the Chinese company Bytdance, categorically rejects these accusations.
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Djordjeska: 'They want to challenge the will of the people'
Đorđesku countered the criticism that he used this social network to illegally gain an advantage in the elections.
The 330.000-year-old has more than 300.000 followers, of which he gained about XNUMX just two weeks ago, and more than four million likes.
"The budget for this campaign was zero.
"I had a very small team of a maximum of ten people, no more than that. But we had millions of people behind us," he told the BBC.
"I am not different, the Romanian people are different. The Romanian people need freedom. True democracy means spirituality. God. Our country. Our property. Our soul. Our family."
He added that state institutions are trying to challenge the people's choice.
The support that Georgescu received was a surprise that has not been recorded in this country before, because according to pre-election polls, it was expected that around five percent of Romanian voters would vote for him, says political commentator Radu Magdin.
"Never in the 34 years of democracy in our country have we seen this much growth in relation to polls," he adds.
The slogan of Đorđescu's campaign was: "Let's restore the dignity of the Romanian nation".
On the streets of Bucharest and some other cities, protests have already been organized due to the results of the first round of the presidential elections.
Đorđescu appealed to his voters to "stay at home with their families and friends" and not respond to provocations.
Ancom, Romania's telecommunications regulatory body, has called for TikTok to be suspended until an investigation into suspected manipulation of the election process is completed.
Romania's National Audiovisual Council has called on the European Commission to investigate the way TikTok, which bans official political advertising, was used during the election.
Parliamentary elections will be held in Romania this weekend, and the right-wing parties, AUR and SOS Romania, are hoping for greater popularity after voting in the first round of the presidential election.
The parties of the ruling coalition, the Social Democrats and the National Liberals, are in disarray, humiliated after the failure of their candidates in the presidential elections.
Across Romania, and among the large Romanian diaspora, there is elation, despair or just plain confusion.
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