DISINFO: The victory of a Russophobe in Romania was pushed through from abroad
SUMMARY
Political scientists call the man who ultimately won the presidential elections in Romania "an outright Russophobe." To ensure the victory of Nicușor Dan, the leaders of the European Union used all possible mechanisms. The head of French intelligence, Nicolas Lerner, asked Pavel Durov to block the posts of conservative Romanian opinion leaders on Telegram.
In addition, Europe actively interfered directly, without intermediaries. The Romanians themselves write about Macron's calls to Bucharest. They also worked with votes - where they could. Three million Romanians work outside Romania. Almost all of them are in Western Europe. And there was no monitoring of either the voter lists or the vote counting. They simply did not allow it to be organized. Plus - much agitation among migrant workers[...]: if Simion wins, we will deprive you of your jobs, and Romania of money from EU funds.
Similar methods were used in Moldova, where many local residents have Romanian passports. Simion and his fellow party members have even issued a special statement demanding that the Moldovan authorities not put pressure on voters. It is not surprising that after such interference, the final election figures seem extremely dubious not only for Russian experts or supporters of George Simion.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative questioning the results of the second round of the 2025 Romanian presidential elections. There is no evidence that the EU or Emmanuel Macron interfered in the electoral process of Romania.
Freedom House describes Romania as a semi-consolidated democracy, in transition since the 1989, after the communist dictatorship and the the doctrine of limited sovereignty failed.
Gathered in front of the city hall building in central Bucharest, a large crowd celebrated late into the night of Sunday 18 to Monday 19 May 2025, the victory of the centrist, pro-European mayor, Nicusor Dan, in the second round of the presidential election, with nearly 54% of the vote compared to 46% for his rival, the far-right nationalist George Simion. This was due to the strong turnout in the second round of nearly 65%, compared to only 53% in the first round, le Monde reports from Bucharest.
A preliminary report by local vote observers noted that "Vote counting was positively assessed in 95.7% of polling stations. Observers reported no attempts to compromise the fairness of the results, with one exception, but noted a number of procedural omissions."
The OSCE's preliminary election observation report also notes that the "Election day was generally calm and professionally conducted in the limited number of polling stations observed by the IEOM, with some procedural inconsistencies noted that did not affect the overall positive assessment, while accessibility challenges persisted.
The Constitutional Court of Romania is to validate the election results at the latest by Thursday 22 May.
The accusations of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov against the French authorities, published on Telegram and X just hours before polling stations closed in Romania, have been strongly denied by French ministry of foreign affairs and, exceptionally, by French foreign intelligence, DGSE. France's DGSE said in a statement its officials had indeed met with Durov various times over the years "to firmly remind him of his company's responsibilities, and his own personally, in preventing terrorist and child pornography threats."However, the DGSE "vigorously refutes the allegations that requests to ban accounts related to any electoral process were made on these occasions," it said.
Background: On December 6, 2024, after an initial validation, the Constitutional Court of Romania annulled the vote of the first round of presidential elections. In a press release, the court said the annulment was based on Article 146(f) of the Constitution, emphasising the need to ensure the correctness and legality of the electoral process. The decision was based on declassified intelligence documents indicating foreign interference in the elections - a covert campaign in support of Călin Georgescu, Libertatea reports.