Attention Required! | Cloudflare
balkaninsight.com

Supporters of Calin Georgescu threw stones and bottles at riot police in Bucharest after the Central Election Bureau voted to bar the right-wing, pro-Russian candidate from competing in upcoming presidential polls.

The Central Election Bureau voted 10-4 to bar Georgescu, saying his candidacy did not meet the legal requirements and that he had “violated the very obligation to defend democracy”.

Georgescu condemned the decision as a “direct blow to the heart of democracy worldwide”. He now has 24 hours from Sunday’s ruling to file an official appeal with Romania’s Constitutional Court, which is expected to issue a decision on Wednesday at the latest.

  • Skua@kbin.earth
    1·
    8 hours ago

    Venice commission

    I can’t speak to the others you mentioned because I don’t know which ones you mean, but this one isn’t true. The Venice Commission’s report ( https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/?pdf=CDL-PI(2025)001-e ) includes:

    1. It is not for the Venice Commission to go into the facts of the case, or into the examination of the decision by the Romanian Constitutional Court. The question put to the Venice Commission by the Parliamentary Assembly is of a general nature, and it refers to an analysis of general comparative constitutional law and European and international standards. This is the basis on which the Venice Commission will respond to this request.

    And reiterates that in the conclusion:

    1. It is not for the Venice Commission to go into the facts of the case, or into the examination of the decision by the Romanian Constitutional Court. The question put to the Venice Commission by the Parliamentary Assembly is of a general nature, and it refers to an analysis of general comparative constitutional law and European and international standards.

    They - rightly, in my opinion - extensively discuss how serious a matter it is to annul an election. However, what they were actually asked for was not a ruling on Georgescu’s case, but rather a more general view:

    Under which conditions and under which legal standards can a constitutional court invalidate elections, drawing from the recent Romanian case?

    They give a list of recommendations of when it might be appropriate and how it should be done. They do not say that Romania acted improperly, nor say that such annulments are never appropriate.

    The European Court of Human Rights very firmly rejected Georgescu’s claims as well https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{“itemid”:[“001-242417”]}

    I’m not responding to the other stuff not because I mean to ignore it or because I have no response, rather just that I think we’ve got a difference of opinion that’s too subjective for either of us to meaningfully persuade the other. I do understand where you’re coming from, even if we arrive at different conclusions.