The Romanian Constitutional Court (CCR) decided in Thursday’s session to request the rechecking and recounting of all ballots, including valid and invalid votes, in the presidential elections.
The request was made by Cristian Terheş, a presidential candidate from the Romanian National Conservative Party, who also requested the annulment of the elections.
In the same session, the Constitutional Court unanimously rejected the request to annul the elections for the position of President of Romania made by Sebastian-Constantin Popescu as belated.
Thus, the Constitutional Court today ordered, unanimously:
1. Rechecking and recounting of all ballots, including valid and invalid votes, in the presidential elections held on November 24, 2024.
2. Presentation of the rechecking and recounting results by the Central Electoral Bureau to the Constitutional Court.
3. Trial date set for November 29, 2024, at 14:00.
It's impossible
The President of the Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP) reacted strongly to the CCR decision.
He stated that the process of recounting the approximately 9 million ballots cannot be completed within the set deadline of Friday at 14:00.
"It is absolutely impossible for such an operation to take place in one night or in a day or two. It involves verifying 9 million ballots stored in 41 counties, in the storage spaces of the courts, and this process would take much longer than the period set by the CCR," said the AEP President on Digi24.
So far, there have been no challenges or clear evidence indicating a possible error in the vote count.
"In addition, the campaign for the second round of the presidential elections cannot begin until the CCR officially validates the result of the first round and determines the final candidates," added the AEP President.
He ruled out any possibility of quickly recounting the votes through an emergency procedure.
"If there is someone who can snap their fingers and recount the 9 million ballots found in 42 deposits in each county of the country... I don't think anyone imagines that this can be done in one night," the AEP President further stated.
Terheş' Claims
According to Antena 3, Cristian Terheş claimed that corrections were made in several sections to the number of votes for Ludovic Orban. These corrections reduced the votes for Ludovic Orban from 35 to 1 or from 58 to 1.
Terheş accuses that votes were shifted from Orban to Lasconi in the voting sections because the leader of the Right Force announced his withdrawal. However, he remained on the ballot because his decision was made too late.
Cristian Terheş and Sebastian Constantin Popescu each submitted a request to the CCR regarding the first round of the presidential elections.
Cristian Terheş ran for the Romanian National Conservative Party and received 95,782 votes in the first round of the presidential elections, representing 1.04%.
Sebastian Constantin Popescu ran for the New Romania Party and was voted by 14,683 people, representing 0.16% of the total votes.