Romania begins vote recount amid TikTok scandal and cyberattack allegations

The Constitutional Court may confirm the results of the first round of the December 2 election, after the vote recount is complete.

Romania's Central Electoral Bureau has begun a court-ordered recount of all ballots cast in the first round of the presidential election, amid mounting allegations that surprise winner Calin Georgescu illegally used TikTok to boost his campaign.

Radio writes about this Freedom.

The recount was ordered by the Constitutional Court on November 28 at the request of the Supreme Council of National Defense, which said it had evidence of the use of cyberattacks to influence the election results. The council also called for an urgent investigation into allegations of preferential treatment of Georgescu by the social network. TikTok has denied any allegations of election interference.

Georgescu surprised political experts by winning almost 23% of the vote in the November 24 election. He advanced to the second round on December 8, where he will face Elena Lasconi, a centrist and supporter of Euro-Atlantic integration. Both candidates beat the frontrunner, center-left Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.

Amid these developments, Calin Georgescu said that state institutions were trying to deny the will of the people.

Sources told Radio Liberty Romanian Service that the Constitutional Court, which was originally supposed to confirm the results of the first round of the election on November 29, will do so on December 2 after the recount is complete.

Without party support, Georgescu's campaign relied heavily on TikTok, where his account has received 1.6 million likes and where he has posted videos of himself attending church, practicing judo, running on a treadmill and speaking at a podcasts.

Meanwhile, controversies over the role of TikTok, cyberattacks, and alleged Russian interference remain in the spotlight, raising concerns about the influence of external forces on the country's democratic processes.