President Donald Trump has had his fair share of battles with the judiciary over court orders blocking his implementation of key policies. But right-wing politicians in NATO ally Romania are facing an even more cataclysmic reckoning with their judiciary, which has placed their presidential election in jeopardy.

After outsider candidate Călin Georgescu won the first round of elections in Romania’s 2024 election in a stunning upset, the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) canceled the second round and ordered a new election, alleging Russian interference. Georgescu was banned from running in the new elections, but the Ploiești Court of Appeal this week suspended the decision to cancel the first elections. 

That move was then speedily reversed by the Romanian Supreme Court (ICCJ) and a judiciary council has since begun an investigation into the Court of Appeal judge, Alexandru Vasile, who ordered the resumption of the original elections. The Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) began the investigation on Friday.

This is what a 'constitutional crisis' really looks like

The CCR is a specialized judicial body in Romania that exists largely to settle matters of constitutionality. Its word on such matters is final and not subject to review by other courts. Whether the Court of Appeal has the authority to overturn its cancellation of the first elections is itself a constitutional conundrum. 

In March of this year, the European Court of Human Rights declined to overturn the Constitutional Court decision on appeal from Georgescu. The ECHR is a judicial body of the European Union with limited authority over member nations, specifically regarding human rights issues.

All 46 Council of Europe member countries have signed on to the European Convention on Human Rights, a treaty designed to protect people’s human rights and basic freedoms. Governments, parliaments and courts in each country are mainly responsible for upholding the rights set out in the convention. Individuals can bring human rights complaints against any of the 46 member states to the court in Strasbourg after they have used up every possible chance of appeal at the national level.

Alleged Russian interference

Georgescu ran as a conservative independent critical of the EU, NATO, and Ukraine aid, while advocating for friendlier ties with Russia. His campaign was trailing going into the election, but he pulled off an upset and managed to win the most votes of any candidate, winning 23% of the vote. He advanced to a runoff contest with conservative leader Elena Lasconi, which was set to proceed in December, but was canceled days ahead of the vote.

Lasconi also condemned the court’s cancellation of the elections, saying the move “trampled” on Romanian democracy. At the core of the court decision is an alleged Russian influence campaign involving paid ads and accounts backing Georgescu. Romanian authorities arrested Georgescu in February, alleging he made false statements about the sources of his campaign funds. He denies any wrongdoing.

"[Authorities] are looking to invent evidence to justify the theft of the elections and to do anything to block my new candidacy for the presidency," he said at the time. The cancellation of the first round was a central pillar of Vice President JD Vance’s speech to European leaders in February, during which he admonished the continental leaders over “the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values.”

“Now, as I understand it, the argument was that Russian disinformation had infected the Romanian elections, but I'd ask my European friends to have some perspective,” Vance said. “You can believe it's wrong for Russia to buy social media advertisements to influence your elections. We certainly do. You can condemn it on the world stage even. But if your democracy can be destroyed with a few $100,000 of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn't very strong to begin with.”

Georgescu’s way forward

Romanian Minister of Justice Radu Marinescu insisted this week that the planned new elections would go ahead without incident. With the contests set for May 4 and 8, Georgescu and his supporters have thrown their support behind George Simion, another conservative leader who has vowed to put Georgescu at the “forefront” of the country, one way or another. Simion is the leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) and initially organized pro-Georgescu protests after the cancellation of the first election. 

While the AUR shares many of Georgescu’s views and espouses both nationalism and Christian values as key tenets, Simion’s party differs from Georgescu’s movement on several geopolitical issues. The AUR is broadly less critical of NATO and advocates for more alliance bases in Romania, whereas Georgescu opposes them on grounds they may be used as a jumping off point for an attack on Russia.

Claims of EU-based censorship

Amid the campaign, however, the pair have largely downplayed their differences and focused on what they call the anti-democratic moves of the Romanian judiciary. What remains somewhat unclear, however, is what role Georgescu will play in a hypothetical Simion administration. Some of their rhetoric has taken on a particularly Euro-critical tone amid social media censorship in the country that they allege came at the behest of the European Union.

“More and more public figures are being censored in Romania. Social media accounts are being deleted [on] a daily basis. No notice,” Simion said this week. “This censorship is dictated from Brussels, in perfect complicity with the Deep State. I ask the authorities to stop this political pressure!”

The first round of the election is set for May 4 and current polling suggests Simion will easily make the second round.