Romania orders election recount after TikTok bias claims
Romania’s highest court has ordered a recount of the votes cast in Sunday’s first-round presidential elections following accusations that the social media platform TikTok gave “preferential treatment” to the unexpected winner, Calin Georgescu.
The Constitutional Court also dismissed allegations from two losing candidates, who had accused Georgescu of illegal campaign financing.
Georgescu, a far-right candidate with no party affiliation, ran primarily on TikTok.
TikTok has firmly denied any bias in favor of the pro-Russia candidate.
Georgescu received 23% of the vote, while the runner-up, Elena Lasconi from the opposition Save Romania Union, garnered 19%. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the ruling Social Democrats placed third.
The Central Election Bureau must now determine how the recount will be conducted, including the personnel involved and the timeline.
A full recount is unprecedented in Romania since the fall of Communism.
Currently, Georgescu is set to face Lasconi in a runoff on December 8.
“Extremism is fought through voting, not behind-the-scenes tactics,” Lasconi said. “I urge the Central Election Bureau to handle the recount with wisdom. The law must apply equally to all, not be interpreted differently for some.”
TikTok also faced accusations that it did not respect electoral rules by Romania’s top security body, the Supreme Council of National Defence.
Outgoing President Klaus Iohannis, who convened the council, said the platform “did not mark him as a political candidate”.
But TikTok has vehemently denies the allegations.
“It is categorically false to claim his account was treated differently to any other candidate,” it said in a statement.
“When Romanian authorities contacted us to flag a number of videos that lacked identifiers… we took action on those videos within 24 hours.”
Georgescu, himself, has pushed back against criticism that he used the social media platform illegally to gain an electoral advantage.
The 62-year-old has more than 330,000 followers – up from 30,000 just over a fortnight ago – and more than 4m likes.
“The budget of this campaign was zero… I had a very small team – a maximum of 10 people, no more. But we had millions of people behind [us],” he told the BBC.
“I’m not different – the Romanian people are different. Romanian people need freedom. Real democracy means spirituality. God. Our land. Our property. Our soul. Our family.”
He added that state institutions were trying to deny the people’s choice.
Anti-Georgescu protesters have already taken to the streets in Bucharest and several provincial cities, while Georgescu has appealed to his supporters to “stay home with friends and family” and not respond to provocations.
Romania’s Telecoms regulator Ancom has called for TikTok to be suspended pending an investigation by prosecutors into suspicions of manipulation of the electoral process.
Romania’s National Audiovisual Council has also asked the European Commission to investigate the way TikTok, which bans formal political advertising, was used in the election.
Romania will hold a parliamentary election this weekend, with the far-right parties AUR and SOS Romania hoping for a surge in popularity in the wake of the presidential vote.
The parties of the governing coalition, Social Democrats and National Liberals, are in disarray – humiliated by the failure of their candidates in the presidential election.
Across Romania, and in the large Romanian diaspora abroad, there’s a mood of elation, despair, or simply confusion.
