Brussels avoids comment on Romania's cancelled election after shock judicial ruling

euronews (in English)

The shock ruling by Romania's Constitutional Court has been harshly criticised by the two candidates who made it to the second round, but not by the European Commission, which is avoiding comment on the matter.

Transcript

00:00Days after Romania's presidential election result was declared invalid due to alleged

00:06foreign interference, the European Commission has avoided commentating on the decision.

00:12However, it is still investigating the social network TikTok and its role in the electoral

00:18process, in which independent candidate Kalin Djordjescu won the first round.

00:25The feeling among several MEPs is that the Chinese social media network has turned a

00:39blind eye to the possible use of its algorithm by a state actor, suspected to be Russia.

00:45They have permitted electoral publicity, which was not marked properly. They have permitted

00:50electoral publicity on election day, which was illegally. And they have permitted the

00:55campaign of a candidate being funded with many millions of euros, although that candidate

01:00has publicly indicated a budget of zero euros for his whole campaign.

01:04But some MEPs think the constitutional court's decision to annul the elections went too far.

01:15Others applaud the court as they believe that citizens will now be able to count on a fair trial.

01:35I don't think a manipulated election means that the rights of the citizens are respected.

01:42Brussels has not said whether it will take action

01:45on the possible violation of the Digital Services Act by TikTok.

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