By Luiza Ilie and Octav Ganea
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romanian prosecutors raided several properties on Saturday as part of their investigation into the illegal financing of a presidential candidate's election campaign, a day after the highest court annulled the vote following allegations accusations of Russian interference.
The court's shock ruling has plunged the European Union and NATO members into institutional chaos, raising fears that public trust in the state will be eroded and the pro-Western orientation of a staunch ally of Ukraine is compromised.
Friday's decision came after declassified documents showed the election process was marred by vote manipulation, campaign irregularities and non-transparent financing.
Prosecutors said on Saturday that three searches took place in the central city of Brasov.
They did not name the candidate whose campaign is under investigation, but the declassified documents focused on the campaign of Calin Georgescu – a far-right, pro-Russian NATO critic – who won the first round on November 24 after a single-digit poll during preparation.
“The searches are aimed at the possible involvement of an individual in the illegal financing of the electoral campaign of a candidate for the presidency of Romania, through the use of sums of money… (which) could come from the commission of crimes, subsequently being introduced into money laundering proceedings,” prosecutors said in a statement.
In one of the unclassified documents, Romanian intelligence claims that Georgescu – who wants to end Romanian support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion – was heavily promoted on the social media platform TikTok through coordinated accounts , recommendation algorithms and paid promotions.
Georgescu said Friday that the court's decision to annul the election amounted to a “coup.” He urged electoral authorities to ignore the decision. He said there were no funds spent on the campaign.
Russia has denied any interference in the elections. TikTok denies giving special treatment to Georgescu, saying his account was labeled a political account and treated like others.
The US State Department said Friday that Romanians must be confident that their elections will be free of malign foreign influence. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he was “concerned” by reports of Russian interference.
A runoff to decide the election was scheduled for Sunday until the court's decision.
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