Unprecedented: CCR asked BEC to recount votes in the first round of the presidential elections

The Constitutional Court (CCR) has postponed until at least Friday the decisions on the validation of the result of the first round of the presidential elections and the request to annul the election result. The judges are requesting data and information from several institutions, such as the Central Electoral Bureau, as well as a recount of the 9.4 million votes. It is not clear whether this recount should take place until tomorrow, when the new CCR meeting is scheduled. However, if it is till tomorrow it would be an unprecedented decision. The AEP head says a recounting is impossible until tomorrow.

In the first round of the presidential elections, 9,465,257 people voted. In the second round of the elections, Călin Georgescu entered, with 2,120,401 votes (22.94%), and Elena Lasconi, with 1,772,500 (19.17%). Marcel Ciolacu ranked third, with 1,769,760 votes (19.14%). The difference between Lasconi and Ciolacu was 2,740 votes.

The Central Electoral Bureau meets in session at 4 p.m. “On November 28, 2024, the Plenum of the Constitutional Court examined the request for annulment of the elections for the office of President of Romania of November 24, 2024, formulated by Mr. Cristian Vasile Terheș (File no. 3671F/2024), and taking into account art. 146 letter f) of the Constitution, art. 3 of Law no. 370/2004 for the election of the President of Romania, as well as art. 37 and 76 of Law no. 47/1992 on the organization and functioning of the Constitutional Court, unanimously ordered: 1. Re-verification and recount of all ballots including validly cast and invalid votes in the elections for the office of President of Romania of November 24, 2024. 2. Submission of the results of the re-verification and of the recount of the Constitutional Court by the Central Electoral Bureau. 3. Trial deadline for November 29, 2024, 2:00 p.m. In the same meeting, the Plenum of the Constitutional Court unanimously rejected, as late, the request for annulment of the elections for the position of President of Romania of November 24, 2024, formulated by Mr. Sebastian-Constantin Popescu (File no. 3672F/2024). At the same time, in File no. 3670F/2024, it set a deadline for November 29, 2024, 2:00 p.m.,” the CCR states in a statement.

The request for annulment of the elections, which also targets Elena Lasconi, was filed by candidate Cristian Terheş, who accused “interventions” that would have influenced the ranking of the first two places (Georgescu and Lasconi). He accuses that in some polling stations there were corrections to the number of votes, which decreased for Ludovic Orban. He also claims that USR members would have made propaganda when the vote had not yet ended in the US. Terheș also accused that there were bots that urged people to vote for Călin Georgescu, including on the day of the vote.

The other request to cancel the election, filed by Sebastian Popescu, was rejected on the grounds that it was filed too late.

CSAT meets at 2 p.m., to “analyze possible risks to national security generated by the actions of state and non-state cyber actors on IT&C infrastructures, supporting the electoral process.”

The Central Electoral Bureau decided on Thursday evening, after a meeting that lasted two and a half hours, to recount the votes from the first round of the presidential elections, thus giving effect to the request of the Constitutional Court. The BEC established how the recount of the votes will be done, with the bags to be handed over based on the minutes. By December 1, 22:00, the scanned minutes must be sent to the BEC, and the originals must arrive by December 3.

The deadline mentioned by the CCR, namely that the votes be recounted by tomorrow (Friday, November 29), will most likely not be met. “In the meeting on November 28 this year, the Central Electoral Bureau for the election of the President of Romania in 2024 (BEC) adopted the Decision on the manner of resolving the request formulated by the Constitutional Court of Romania by address no. 11197/28.11.2024, issued in File no. 3671F/2024, registered at the Central Electoral Bureau for the election of the President of Romania in 2024 with no. 781C/BEC/P.R.2024/28.11.2024.

However, the President of the Permanent Electoral Authority had an initial reaction, saying that it is impossible to recount the votes in one or a few days.

“The re-verification of over 9 million votes, stored in the 41 counties, cannot be done in hours, or in a day, or in two. I cannot estimate how long it would take, we are talking about over 9 million votes stored in the archives of the courts. There would need to be solid evidence that this count was not done properly. Or until the validation of the minutes, there was no contestation regarding the fact that the vote count was done incorrectly,” Toni Greblă declared on Digi 24.

Lasconi: CCT is playing with national security

Elena Lasconi, targeted by the Constitutional Court’s decision requesting the Central Electoral Bureau to recount the votes from the first presidential round, accuses the CCR of “playing with national security”. In a Facebook post, Lasconi claims that the CCR is intervening for the second time in the democratic process and that it “cannot put presidents at the green table”.

“The CCR is playing with national security! The vote of each of us is sacred! What the CCR is trying to do now is absolutely terrible for a democratic country. I am here to defend democracy and I appeal to the Central Electoral Bureau to treat the recount of votes wisely. The law must be the same for everyone, not interpreted differently for some.

For the second time, the CCR intervenes in the democratic process. The CCR cannot put presidents at the green table. Extremism is fought through voting, not through backstage games. Romania deserves more, not a group of old politicians who use institutions strictly for personal interest! I am here to defend democracy and I will do everything I can so that it is not trampled on by corrupt politicians”, Elena Lasconi wrote on Facebook on Thursday.

USR: “Some people want to cling to power at any cost, even at the cost of democracy”

Former President Traian Băsescu said live on Digi24 that the elections must be carried out to the end, “in the absence of evidence of fraud”, fraud that “cannot be ascertained by the Constitutional Court, but only by the institutions related to the Romanian justice system: the prosecutor’s office and a court, probably the High Court”. In Băsescu’s opinion, “the elections should go ahead and, possibly, the second round should be validated after the verdict of the judiciary is received, whether or not there was fraud”.