Central Electoral Bureau Rejects Diana Șoșoacă’s Candidacy

The Central Electoral Bureau published a press release informing about the rejection of the candidacy of Diana Șoșoacă, as well as four other independent candidates. The BEC also registered the candidacies of Elena Lasconi and George Simion, as well as those of three other candidates.

The decision was made with a majority of 10 votes. Three members of the BEC also voted for the candidacy.

The Central Electoral Bureau explains that the rejection of the candidacy was made taking into account the decision of the Constitutional Court last year, when the candidacy of Diana Șoșoacă was prohibited.

In the motivation of the decision, the BEC recalls that “within this electoral cycle that started in 2024, the Constitutional Court proceeded to analyze the control of legality and constitutionality of the candidacy of Ms. Diana Iovanovici-Şoşoacă, following the appeals filed against the Decision of the Central Electoral Bureau no. 18/D of October 3, 2024″.

Thus, the BEC invokes in its argument the fact that Diana Șoșiacă’s candidacy has already been rejected by the CCR: “By Decision 2 of 5 October 2024, the Constitutional Court (…) found that ‘the registration of the candidacy of Ms. Diana Iovanovici-Șoșoăcă in the 2024 elections for the President of Romania violates the eligibility conditions provided for by the constitutional provisions (…) with reference to the values ​​of democracy, the rule of law, respect for the Constitution correlated with their political-military guarantee, namely Romania’s membership of the EU and NATO'”, the BEC decision also states.

Consequently, “the rulings of the Constitutional Court in Decision no. 2 of 5 October 2024, which are also binding for the Central Electoral Bureau, lead to the conclusion that, as far as the candidacy of Ms. Diana Iovanovici-Șoșoăcă is concerned, the conditions for registration within this electoral process are not met”.

Diana Șoșoacă reacted with a message on Facebook and announced that she will challenge the decision at the CCR. “The rejection of Diana Șoșoacă’s candidacy represents a new blow to Romanian democracy and a serious violation of the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution,” AUR reported.

The Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) rejected the candidacy of the president of S.O.S. Romania, Diana Iovanovici-Şoşoacă, taking into account the Constitutional Court’s (CCR) ruling from last year, the published decision states.

The president of SOS Romania, Diana Iovanovici-Şoşoacă, announced that she will appeal the decision. “I told you they would reject it. (…) We no longer have a country, we made fun of it, we left it in their hands. (…) I will file an appeal again. (…) I will file a criminal complaint against the BEC, against the CCR, this is a Stalinist state. (…) They don’t know that I’m making myself so famous worldwide, I’m going upstairs to the office to call Trump and Putin. (…) What is certain – I am certainly not a man of the system”, said Diana Iovanovici-Şoşoacă on Saturday, in a live video on her Facebook page, in which she dialogues with her supporters.

“The rejection of Diana Șoșoacă’s candidacy represents a new blow to Romanian democracy and a serious violation of the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. In a normal democracy, every Romanian has the constitutional right to run for office and be elected. No state institution can take away this right without clear motivation. In recent months, however, we have seen how the system tries to impose a dictatorial regime, by banning political competitors or by effectively annulling the elections if the result is not what it wants,” reads a post on the AUR party’s Facebook page.

AUR firmly rejects the Central Electoral Bureau’s decision to “prohibit a Romanian whose rights are not constrained by legal restrictions from entering the electoral race.” “This practice not only undermines the principles of a free society, but also risks transforming a democratic system into a controlled and non-transparent one, in which only some can participate,” concludes the party led by George Simion, whose candidacy was validated by the BEC.

So far, 14 candidacies have been submitted, 4 have been rejected, including that of Călin Georgescu, and two have become definitive, those of Crin Antonescu and Nicuşor Dan.

On Saturday, POT leader Anamaria Gavrilă, former Minister of Education Daniel Funeriu, and former advisor to Călin Georgescu Anton Pisaroglu registered their candidacies.