George Simion, leader of Romania’s nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), has denounced the country’s Constitutional Court (CCR) after it rejected his challenge to the presidential election result, claiming the judges have “continued the coup d’état” and urging his supporters to prepare for further political battles.
“The CCR has continued the coup d’état! All we have to do is fight! I call on you to stand by me, today and in the coming weeks!” Simion posted on Facebook on Thursday. “Very soon we will have elections again and we will have to be much more prepared!”
Simion’s complaint, submitted after losing the second-round runoff to Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan, was dismissed unanimously by the Constitutional Court within minutes. The AUR had alleged widespread electoral fraud, including claims that dead voters cast ballots for Dan in Moldova and that there had been foreign interference in the party’s communications on the messaging platform Telegram.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov appeared to support claims of attempted censorship, writing in a post on Sunday: “A Western European government (guess which [baguette emoji]) approached Telegram asking us to silence conservative voices in Romania ahead of today’s presidential elections. I flatly refused. Telegram will not restrict the freedoms of Romanian users or block their political channels.”
He added, “You can’t ‘defend democracy’ by destroying democracy. You can’t ‘fight election interference’ by interfering with elections. You either have freedom of speech and fair elections — or you don’t. And the Romanian people deserve both.” Durov also said he was willing to testify in any legal proceeding “if it helps Romanian democracy.”
I’m ready to come and testify if it helps Romanian democracy. https://t.co/lEq16uKg8b
— Pavel Durov (@durov) May 20, 2025
Simion pointed to the precedent set in December, when the same Constitutional Court annulled the first round of a previous presidential vote after Russian interference was alleged in the victory of Calin Georgescu. “For these very reasons, the December elections were annulled: external interferences by state and non-state actors. This time, (it is) proven with evidence!” he claimed. “Neither France nor Moldova, nor anyone else, has the right to interfere in the elections of another state.”
Vague rumors of Russian meddling? Enough to ban a candidate Brussels dislikes and nullify an election.
Solid proof of foreign interference? Ignored in minutes—so long as it helps crown the elites’ favorite.
Ever wonder why trust in politics is gone? They don’t. Because they… https://t.co/hJ3qZwz6Oe
— Rob Roos 🇳🇱 (@Rob_Roos) May 22, 2025
Simion stormed to victory in the first round of the presidential election with 40.96 percent of the vote, nearly twice that of Dan (20.99 percent), but only managed to pick up an extra five percentage points in the second-round run-off as Dan secured the win with 53.6 percent.
An extra 2 million votes were cast in the second round (11.6 million) compared to the first (9.6 million).
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