Romania faces no sanctions for canceling presidential elections Europe’s top rights’ court ruled on Tuesday, dashing the hopes of a far right candidate that won the first round.
The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday ruled against Călin Georgescu, the radical NATO skeptic who improbably took first place in the November 24 first round. He wanted the elections to be reinstated.
Following declassified reports of Russian interference to illegally help Georgescu, the Constitutional Court canceled the elections on Dec. 6, two days before the runoff.Moscow has denied the allegations.
After losing his case in Romanian courts, Mr Georgescu,62, had asked the Strasbourg-based court to overturn the Constitutional Court decision and the election process resumed .But the European Court rejected his request saying it was outside its remit.
The Court only “grants such requests only on an exceptional basis, when the applicants would otherwise face an imminent risk of irreparable harm,” the ruling said.
Romania’s Constitutional Court ordered the reorganization of elections to be decided by the government in a final decision.
“Mr Georgescu’s request did not concern an imminent risk of irreparable harm…..and the Court decided not to indicate to Romania’s Government the interim measure (Georgescu) sought.”
