Final decision of the CCR: Călin Georgescu cannot run in the presidential elections

Călin Georgescu cannot run in the May presidential elections, after the Constitutional Court of Romania rejected on Tuesday the appeals regarding the decision of the Central Electoral Bureau to invalidate his candidacy, the institution announced.

The CCR decision was taken unanimously, being final and binding. All 11 appeals regarding the BEC decision to reject his candidacy in the elections were rejected.

The CCR judges uphold the BEC decision and say that Georgescu cannot run in the presidential elections.

The constitutional judges also rejected the five appeals to Nicușor Dan’s independent candidacy for the presidential elections already validated by the BEC.

In its meeting on Tuesday, the CCR discussed 11 appeals to the BEC decision to reject Călin Georgescu’s candidacy in the May elections, one of which was filed by him himself.

What did Călin Georgescu complain about at the CCR?

Călin Georgescu stated in the appeal filed with the Constitutional Court, after the rejection of his candidacy at the Central Electoral Bureau, that the BEC not only failed to fulfill its sole attribution in the matter, but also substituted the exclusive competence of the CCR to examine and verify the fulfillment of the eligibility and substantive conditions for the candidacy for the position of president.

Călin Georgescu asks the constitutional judges, in the notification made, to order the BEC to communicate the minutes of the Sunday meeting, in which the decision was adopted and the minutes rejecting his candidacy were drawn up, in order to be able to ascertain and prove, thus, the procedural irregularities that entail the nullity of the decision.

He argues that the BEC has the task of ascertaining the fulfillment of only the substantive and formal conditions provided for by the Law for candidacies and subsequently, registering those who meet these conditions, respectively rejecting those who do not.

“On the contrary, throughout the contested decision, the BEC analyzed only additional substantive conditions, indirectly arising from other constitutional provisions than those to which the law itself refers and which were detected, by way of interpretation, in the jurisprudence of the CCR“, Georgescu pointed out.

He added that, by the way it proceeded, the BEC not only did not fulfill its sole task in the matter, but it also substituted the exclusive competence of the Constitutional Court to examine and verify the fulfillment of the eligibility and substantive conditions for candidacy for the position of president.

“If we were to accept that a decision of the CCR regarding the annulment of elections within an electoral process, caused by facts attributed, either directly or indirectly, to one of the candidates, would constitute a ground for refusal for the registration by the BEC of any candidacy of the respective Romanian citizen or a reason for the CCR to annul the BEC’s decision to register his candidacy, this would mean, de facto, the perpetual suppression of the constitutional right to be elected, despite the fulfillment of all the formal and substantive conditions provided by the law, that is, of the very normative act regulating the election of the President of Romania”, the appeal filed by Călin Georgescu and also signed by the AUR and POT parties also shows.

Hundreds of Georgescu supporters protest in front of the CCR

The decision was greeted with boos from his supporters, who were waiting for the decision at the Palace of Parliament, where the CCR is headquartered. People began shouting “thieves” and “freedom”.

Special security measures were taken for their demonstration, which began a few hours before the CCR meeting. Controls were intensified, fences were erected and gendarmes were present, for the first time, in the perimeter of the CCR meeting room.

After the official announcement of the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR), the leader of AUR, George Simion, reacted harshly in a message on Facebook, criticizing the decision. “Shame! Shame! Shame! You will not defeat us! The Romanian people have already woken up! And they will be victorious! CG (Călin Georgescu),” Simion wrote.

MP Anamaria Gavrilă, leader of the POT, had a first reaction after Tuesday’s ruling by the Constitutional Court of Romania, which upheld the decision of the Central Electoral Bureau to prevent Călin Georgescu from entering the presidential race, and claims that “with the illegal cancellation of the presidential elections” in 2024, “a horrifying system has shown its fangs and has been devouring our democracy and freedom for over three months.”

“These judges have created an extraordinarily terrible, difficult, strange precedent for our country, that precedent of judging by conscience,” the POT leader added.

USR leader Elena Lasconi said she hopes that Tuesday’s decision by the Constitutional Court in the case of Călin Georgescu will be “just a first step”, as he “must be held criminally accountable for all the atrocities he is accused of in recent months, and the institutions that have been brought to their knees by the wave of disinformation must be lifted, made credible again”.

“Our democracy is fragile, and such a decision should remain an exception, not the rule. If we want to restore trust in our institutions, we must ensure that they function with integrity and consistency, not in a way that fuels uncertainty and suspicion. What has been done has been done, and now we must focus on the future,” Elena Lasconi said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

A reaction also came from MP Victor Ponta, an independent candidate in the May presidential elections, but who endorsed Georgescu . “The fight for Romania and for Romanians never stops! We must never give up! We must never despair! In the end, with God’s help, we will win,” Ponta wrote on Facebook.

Georgescu reiterates he is a victim of the system and of the EU

Călin Georgescu reacted after his candidacy was banned by the BEC, and then by the CCR. He accused he was a victim of the system, and how he bothered the European Union. More precisely, that he wanted those in the Diaspora to return to Romania, and the EU “does not want this”. Then he also mentioned the classic anti-system message and how the system banned him. In the last part of his speech, he touched on the religious part in which he made biblical comparisons and mentioned devils, Hell, but he also questioned the COVID-19 pandemic, about which he said that “in the so-called pandemic, the first experiment was made when they locked us in our homes, brought the army out into the streets and banned our faith, churches and burials”.

Although it is rumored that AUR would prepare lists of signatures to launch his leader George Simion in the presidential race, allegedly endorsed by Georgescu, the latter did not mention a single person for his voters to vote for in the May elections.