“I will remain in office until the new president of Romania is sworn in,” announced President Klaus Iohannis after the decision of the Constitutional Court had unprecedentedly ruled the annulment of the first round of presidential election amid documents revealing the involvement of another state in the elections, namely in supporting independent candidate Klaus Iohannis.
Statements of the President:
“The CCR decided to cancel the presidential elections that took place these days. The CCR’s decision is binding on everyone and we all comply. Shortly after the first tour (of presidential elections), I received signals, initially only by phone, from the services that certain things were strange. We demand that everything that can be verified be verified. Shortly, we received written information. We convened the CSAT. There we had four materials from SRI, SIE, STS, MAI.
A candidate’s campaign was supported from a foreign state. A group of NGOs asked us to declassify the materials from the CSAT. After discussions, declassification and publication were agreed. Everyone could see what was discussed in the CCR.
It is important to remember that the CSAT has no powers in the field of elections. The signals that reached the CCR that this campaign was illegally supported from outside Romania led us to the conclusion that we have a national security problem.
After several appeals to the CCR, today the CCR decided to cancel the entire presidential election procedure. What’s next? This is the question on the lips of Romanians.
First of all, after the validation of the parliamentary elections, the convening of the new Parliament, the convening of consultations with parties and the formation of the government. What about me? The Constitution, in art. 83, para. 2, says “The President of Romania exercises his mandate until the oath of the newly elected president is taken”. I will remain in office until the new President of Romania takes the oath.
I will not be prime minister. I do not want to be prime minister. I will complete this mandate for a democratic, free, modern, safe, European Romania Romania is a safe, solid country. I say this for the economy, for investors, for the financial markets, I say this for the EU, NATO. Romania remains a safe, solid ally and I think it is very important for us all to know that Romania is not in difficulty.”