[Romanian Losing Presidential Candidate Requests Constitutional Court to Overturn Election Results]

On May 20th, after losing the Romanian presidential election, far-right party "Alliance of United Romanians" presidential candidate Gheorghe Simon formally requested the Constitutional Court to overturn the election results. The reason was the same as when the December election was canceled last year: external intervention by foreign state and non-state actors. "This time there is evidence! No country, whether France, Moldova or any other, has the right to interfere in another country's internal affairs," Simon said.

In the second round of elections held on May 18th, Simon lost to Bucharest Mayor Nicolae Danu with approximately 46% of the vote compared to Danu's 54%. After the preliminary results were announced, Simon had already admitted his defeat.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov responded to Simon's tweet on social platform X, stating, "If it can help Romanian democracy, I am prepared to go there and testify."

This Romanian presidential election was a re-election. In the first round of the November 2024 election, member of the far-right "Alliance of United Romanians" Calin Georgeescu won, but Romania's intelligence department claimed that Romania was subject to an "aggressive hybrid action" by Russia. The Constitutional Court then declared the election invalid and scheduled a new one. Georgeescu did not qualify for the new election, and Simon previously stated that if he won, he might appoint him as Prime Minister.

During the election period, Durov accused "France asking Telegram to suppress Romanian conservative voices," and the French Foreign Ministry strongly denied this. Subsequently, Durov mentioned that the request came from the head of French intelligence, Nicolas Leroy. Currently, Durov is under bail and surveillance due to a criminal case in France, and his recent request to travel to the U.S. for investor negotiations was rejected by the French prosecution on the grounds of "not being urgently necessary."

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1832687082075136/

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