The Constitutional Court says the measure aims to ensure the “correctness and legality” of the trial in light of Russian interference allegations.

Romania’s top court has annulled the results of the first round of presidential elections and said the process must be rerun following allegations that Russia conducted a coordinated campaign to promote the far-right candidate who emerged as the front-runner.

The Constitutional Court’s final decision on Friday came after President Klaus Iohannis this week declassified intelligence reports that Romania was the target of “aggressive hybrid Russian attacks” during the election period.

The alleged operation involved thousands of social media accounts promoting far-right populist Calin Georgescu on platforms such as TikTok and Telegram.

The court decided to “cancel the entire electoral process for the election of the Romanian president … in order to ensure the correctness and legality of the electoral process,” Friday’s decision said.

Georgescu, a pro-Russian candidate who wants to end Romania’s support for Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion, emerged as the frontrunner in the first round of voting on November 24, despite being a political outsider who did not spend on the campaign.

He was due to run in a runoff election on Sunday against pro-EU centrist Elena Lasconi from the Save Romania Union party. Voting is already taking place in polling stations abroad.

Georgescu described the court’s decision on Friday as a “coup,” while Lasconi said it was “illegal, amoral and destroys the essence of democracy: voting.”

George Simion, leader of the opposition far-right Alliance to Unify Romanians (AUR), also called the decision a “coup” but urged people not to take to the streets.

“Nine politically appointed judges, fearing that a candidate outside the system had every chance of becoming president of Romania, decided to annul the Romanians’ will,” Simion said.

However, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu expressed support for the court’s decision, saying it was “the only right decision” after declassified documents showed alleged Russian interference.

“The presidential elections must be held again,” Ciolacu said in a post on Facebook. “At the same time, the authorities’ investigation must uncover who is responsible for the massive attempt to influence the outcome of the presidential election.”

The intelligence files released on Wednesday came from the Romanian Secret Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Special Telecommunications Service and the Interior Ministry.

In light of their release, the Constitutional Court received several legal complaints asking it to annul the first-round vote.

A new date will now be set for the repeat of the first round.

“The electoral process to elect the Romanian president will be repeated in full, and the government will set a new date and … calendar for the necessary steps,” the Constitutional Court said in a statement.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, whose term ends on December 21, said on Friday that he would remain in office until a new president is elected.

Meanwhile, Romania’s Organized Crime Law Enforcement Unit (DIICOT) announced that it would open an investigation into Georgescu’s campaign after analyzing the declassified documents.

“Prosecutors are investigating the commission of the crimes of illegal operations with computer devices or programs, the attempted crime of interfering with the functionality of computer systems and the attempted crime of illegally accessing a computer system,” it said in a statement.

While the office of president in Romania is largely ceremonial in nature, the head of state has moral authority and influence over the country’s foreign policy.

The president also appoints the prime minister, a key role since last weekend’s general election resulted in a fragmented parliament.

The ruling pro-European Social Democrats won the vote, but far-right parties made strong gains, together securing a third of the vote.