The recount was ordered by Romania's Consitutional Court. Far-right populist Calin Georgescu won the first round of the presidential election and was set to go against centrist Elena Lasconi in a December runoff.
Summary
Romania’s Constitutional Court has ordered a recount of the November 24 presidential election after far-right candidate Calin Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round, despite polling below 5% beforehand.
Georgescu, critical of NATO and supportive of Russia’s Putin, will face centrist Elena Lasconi in a December 8 runoff.
The court rejected an application to annul the election, citing a missed deadline.
The decision comes amid reports of cyberattacks and allegations of TikTok of favoring the far-right candidate.
The difference between 2nd and 3rd candidates is 2000 votes. There were 9 million votes in total. That's insanely close. There is widespread fear that during the recount some votes will be nullified, and some will be changed in some god forsaken villages, resulting in an overturn (which will result in a re-election according to the constitution).
Candidate #1 is a pro russian fascist. #2 is progressive pro-european. #3 is just very corrupt and made a lot of people angry. If #1 goes against #2 in the second round, #2 has a decent chance of winning. #1 against #3 would be really bad, like having to choose between hitler and trump.