Romania’s top court on Thursday validated the results of the May presidential election redo and rejected a request to cancel the results by the hard-right candidate who decisively lost the race to his pro-Western rival.
Romania’s Constitutional Court unanimously rejected the annulment request filed by George Simion, in which he alleged France and Moldova interfered in the ballot and manipulated the process.
The Court then validated the results for President-elect Nicusor Dan, the centrist Bucharest mayor who staged a dramatic comeback and won the runoff, beating Simion with 53.6% of the vote.
“I want to thank the Romanian people who turned out in great numbers for the May elections and, in doing so, gave legitimacy to the new president,” said Dan, 55, a mathematician and former civic activist.
“A new chapter is beginning in Romania’s recent and contemporary history. I want to assure Romanian citizens that I understand the responsibility of the mandate they have entrusted to me,” he said. “There will be many challenges, and I hope that we will successfully overcome all of them.”
