The Guardian editorial board warns that Russian interference, via TikTok, in the Romanian elections, plus what is happening in Georgia, should be a wake-up call for the European Union, in the context of the elections that Germany will organize in February. The British journalists believe that the measures taken by Romania – the cancellation of the elections – were correct, but emphasize the need for Brussels to intervene quickly and decisively to counter similar attacks by Russia in countries that will have elections in the coming period. “The success of a pro-Putin candidate, determined by social media, confirmed the extent to which Russia’s hybrid warfare tactics now pose a threat”, The Guardian comments.
The Guardian editorial board’s editorials represent the opinion of the publication’s journalists on the most important topics of global importance. Below is the article from the British publication:
They say that the famous year 2024 was the biggest election year in history, with elections in 72 countries affecting 3.7 billion people. Unfortunately, in Romania, this is the year in which democracy went down the drain rather than triumphed.
The unprecedented move last week by the country’s Constitutional Court to annul the results of the first round of the presidential election, amid allegations of Russian interference, represents a landmark moment in the increasingly turbulent arena of Eastern European politics. In the columnists’ view, Bucharest did the right thing, but Brussels must urgently intervene before such schemes are applied in Germany, with elections in February, or in other EU countries.
The decision was made following a stunning rise to the top of the polls by a far-right admirer of Vladimir Putin, who, until the eve of the election, had been ranked in the single digits in the polls.
The British newspaper also notes that, according to declassified intelligence reports, Călin Georgescu benefited from a vote that was manipulated through various illicit means, including cyberattacks and a Russian-funded TikTok campaign. Analysts found that approximately 25,000 pro-Georgescu TikTok accounts became active just two weeks before the first-round vote.