Tens of thousands march to Romanian parliament in protest over cancelled presidential election

Record ID: 1899382

  • Title: Tens of thousands march to Romanian parliament in protest over cancelled presidential election
  • Date: 12th January 2025
  • Summary: BUCHAREST, ROMANIA (JANUARY 12, 2025) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS WAVING ROMANIAN FLAGS AND A BANNER READING 'BRING BACK THE SECOND ROUND' ROMANIAN FLAG PROTESTER STANDING ON MONUMENT AND WAVING ROMANIAN FLAG PROTESTERS WAVING FLAGS AND HOLDING BANNER WITH A LEGAL STAMP/HAMMER WITH WORDS ‘FREE ELECTIONS ‘ (SOUNDBITE)(Romanian) ROMANIAN CITIZEN, DANIELA, SAYING: “They cancelled ou
  • Embargoed: 26th January 2025 15:32
  • Keywords: BUCHAREST CANCELLED ELECTIONS PROTEST ROMANIA ULTRANATIONALIST PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE GEORGE SIMION
  • Location: BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
  • City: BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
  • Country: Romania
  • Topics: Europe,Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA003264612012025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Tens of thousands of Romanians angered by the cancellation of a presidential election marched through Bucharest on Sunday to demand that the ballot should go ahead and that outgoing centrist President Klaus Iohannis should resign.
    In a move that polarised voters, Romania's top court voided the presidential election on Dec. 6, two days before the second round.
    The cancellation came after state documents showed frontrunner Calin Georgescu, a critic of NATO, had benefited from an unfair social media campaign likely to have been orchestrated by Russia, accusations Moscow has denied.
    The court ordered that the election be re-run in its entirety. The pro-European coalition government has yet to approve a calendar for the election, although party leaders agreed to hold the two rounds on May 4 and May 18.
    Iohannis, whose term expired on Dec. 21, will stay on until his successor is elected.
    On Sunday, tens of thousands of protesters, including left-wingers and those angered by the way the way the election was cancelled, joined the protest organised by the opposition hard-right Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR), Romania's second-largest party.
    "We ask for a return to democracy by resuming the election with the second round," AUR leader George Simion told reporters.
    Organizers said 100,000 people were at the protest, but riot police along the march estimated the numbers at around 20,000. Protesters waved flags and shouted "Freedom" and "Bring back the second round."
    It remains unclear whether Georgescu, who is critical of NATO and opposes Romanian support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, will be allowed to run for president again.
    (Production: Octav Ganea, Anca Cernat, Claire Watson, Anna Lubowicka)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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