Romania's electoral authorities approved the candidacy of the leader of an ultranationalist party for the May presidential election on Saturday, days after the Constitutional Court upheld a decision to bar far-right populist Calin Đorđescu from running.
The Central Electoral Commission's (CEC) decision to approve the candidacy of Gheorghe Simion, leader of the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR) and ally of Gheorgheescu, came a day after he filed his application.
Simion and Anamarija Gavrila, leader of the far-right Youth Party (POT) and former AUR member, announced earlier this week that they would enter the race and that one of them would withdraw if both were approved as candidates. Gavrila was expected to file on Saturday, the deadline.
The CEC on Saturday rejected the candidacy of another far-right politician, SOS Romania party leader Diana Sosoaca, and approved the candidacy of pro-European centrist Elena Lasconi. Sosoaca was also rejected when the elections were originally held in November.
Gheorgheescu, who is critical of NATO and opposes Romania's support for Ukraine, surprisingly won the first round of the election, on November 24. Simion came in fourth.
After that vote, Romanian intelligence services reported that foreign actors, most likely Russia, had manipulated social media platforms, particularly TikTok, in favor of Șorđescu. The Constitutional Court then annulled the presidential election on December 6, ahead of the second round of voting.
A new vote is scheduled for May – the first round on May 4th and the second round, if necessary, on May 18th.
Supporters of Đorđescu held several protests against the decision to bar him from running.
Protesters from across the political divide held a rally in Bucharest on Saturday to express solidarity with what they said were European values.
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