Bucharest, Nov 28 (EFE).- The Central Election Commission (BEC) began recounting on Thursday the 9.4 million votes cast in the first round of the presidential election from Nov. 24, which was unexpectedly won by the ultra-nationalist Calin Georgescu.
A poster shows Mihai Rapcea (Romanian People’s Patriots Party), a candidate for the senate chamber of Parliament, holding an infrared handheld thermometer in front of a masked Elie Wiesel statue, as seen in downtown Bucharest, Romania, on 28 November 2024. EFE/EPA/ROBERT GHEMEN
The recount, ordered by the Constitutional Court, includes both valid and invalid votes and is aimed at resolving inconsistencies pointed out by two presidential candidates, Christian Terheș and Sebastian Popescu.
The Constitutional Court’s request for the recount to be completed within 24 hours was rejected by the BEC, which said in a statement that the new scanned tally sheets must be sent by 10 PM Sunday, while the original tally sheets must be received by the BEC no later than 4 PM on Dec. 3.
A woman walks past a billboard filled with election posters for the parliamentary elections in Bucharest, Romania, 28 November 2024. EFE/EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT
Depending on the results of the recount, the presidential run-off originally scheduled for Dec. 8 could be postponed.
A father and her daughter ride an electric scooter past a billboard filled with election posters for the parliamentary elections in Bucharest, Romania, 28 November 2024. EFE/EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT
Calin Georgescu, who was polling at 6%, won with almost 23% of the vote, while the pro-European Elena Lasconi came in second with just 2,740 more votes than the Social Democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who came in third.
Under Romanian rules, if the recount changes the order of candidates, the first round must be repeated.
The president of the Permanent Electoral Authority (PEA), Toni Grebla, warned that recounting more than 9 million votes would be a logistical challenge.
“Recounting more than 9 million votes in 41 districts cannot be done in hours, not in one day, not in two,” he told Digi24 television.
The process must also be overseen by representatives of all political parties, which will require the reconstitution of electoral commissions in each area.
NGOs have called for the presence of independent observers and media to ensure impartiality.
The Constitutional Court’s decision to order a full recount when the alleged irregularities were limited to three polling stations has been criticized by politicians and analysts.
On Thursday, the Permanent Electoral Authority also asked prosecutors to investigate Georgescu for officially declaring that his campaign had no contributions or expenses.
The candidate developed a compeling social media campaign to viralise his messages, allowing him to get millions of views on TikTok.
The AEP published the expenses of the presidential candidates on Wednesday and Georgescu’s non-existent expenses contrast with the more than 3 million euros (3.16 million dollars) spent by Elena Lasconi, the pro-European candidate who came second. EFE
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