Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll.
Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election.
Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting.
Photo: AFP
However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor.
On Saturday, an electoral commission statement said it had also taken the “decision to reject the candidacy of Diana Sosoaca.”
It said that the country’s constitutional court had already banned her from standing in last year’s election for making declarations “contrary to democratic values.”
However, the electoral office did validate the candidacy of George Simion, leader of the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR).
Following the exclusion of Georgescu, he is the most prominent figure on the far right still in the running.
Sosoaca, a 49-year-old member of the European Parliament known for her pro-Russia views wrote on Facebook: “I am proof that we do not live in a democracy.” She said she would appeal the ruling.
On Thursday, she donned boxing gloves as she filed her candidacy, declaring herself ready to “fight the system once again” as she bids to “make Europe and Romania great again,” borrowing terms from US President Donald Trump.
Sosoaca has been accused of spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda and anti-Semitic views.
In July last year, she was expelled from the European Parliament in Strasbourg after loudly interrupting debates.
Her small party, S.O.S. Romania, won 24 seats after securing about 7 percent of votes in Romania’s legislative elections in December last year.
Romania has been plunged into chaos since Georgescu’s surprise emergence last year on the back of a huge TikTok social media campaign, which was marred by suspicions of Russian interference.
In a shock decision, the November election was cancelled and this week Georgescu was definitively excluded from the election, the first round of which is scheduled for May 4.
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the