Romanian authorities said they had found evidence of interference by hostile actors in the election campaign, and the NATO and EU member state was awaiting a decision from the Constitutional Court on whether to confirm the results.

Uncertainty over the presidential election has led to political chaos and confusion as the country of 19 million prepares for Sunday’s parliamentary elections in which the far-right is expected to make gains.

“We hope that this (recount) will end as soon as possible,” Electoral Commission chief Toni Grebla told Radio Romania Actualitati. Grebla told Radio Romania Actualitati.

He said the court could then decide to “certify or invalidate the Nov. 24 ballot.”

If a rerun is announced, the first round of voting could take place on December 15 and the runoff could be postponed from December 8 to December 29, he said.

Under Romanian law, the court can only annul the result of the first round if it finds evidence of fraud that affected those who made it to the runoff.

The election results showed that there were fewer than 3,000 votes between the centrist second-place candidate, Elena Lasconi, and the third-place candidate, Social Democratic Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.

By law, the Supreme Court must confirm the results of the first round by November 29th so that the runoff election can take place as planned on December 8th.

Independent observers did not have access to the recount process, increasing concerns about its fairness.

Kremlin denies interference

Romania’s Supreme Defense Council said it had evidence of interference, that Romania was a target of hostile actors such as Russia, and that TikTok gave a candidate more exposure and did not force him to label content as electioneering.

Georgescu has previously praised Romanian fascist politicians of the 1930s as national heroes and martyrs, been critical of NATO and Romania’s stance toward Ukraine and said Bucharest should engage with Russia rather than challenge it.

Grebla told Reuters on Thursday that Sunday’s parliamentary election would go ahead as planned.

Political analysts say the political chaos is likely to increase support for the far-right.

“The recount of votes is a decision that resets the parliamentary election because voters do not know who will make it to the second round of the presidential election when they cast their votes on Sunday,” said political scientist Cristian Pirvulescu.

Public trust in national institutions could also be undermined, analysts said.

“We are at a point where the Constitutional Court is ruling on Romania’s collective public life in a way that goes beyond its purpose and will lead to a situation in which Romanians no longer trust anything,” said Sergiu Miscoiu, professor of Political Science at Babes-Bolyai University.

Emilia Gasu from Bucharest said she believes there could be a different result after the recount.

“My goodness, we’ll see the (political) fights,” she said.

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