A Canceled Vote in Romania Hands Russia a Propaganda Coup

Europe|A Canceled Vote in Romania Hands Russia a Propaganda Coup

When Romania this month annulled the first round of a presidential election won by a Moscow-friendly ultranationalist candidate, many in the West applauded what they hailed as a “solution” to a democratic process gone awry.

By ordering a redo of the election, however, Romania’s constitutional court has handed a propaganda gift to Russia, which has long derided the West’s stated commitment to democracy as a sham that only applied so long as the “wrong” side did not win. Almost three weeks after the decision, a date for a new vote has yet to be set.

“I am sure that all these games are perfectly understandable to any more or less objective observer,” Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said after the Dec. 6 ruling by the Romanian court. Russia’s embassy in Bucharest posted Mr. Lavrov’s mocking comments on its website.

Elon Musk, who has echoed Russian talking points on the Ukraine war, also weighed in, misconstruing the unanimous decision by a 10-member Romanian tribunal as the diktat of a single judge: “How can a judge cancel an election and not be considered a dictator?” he said on social media last week.

Even though Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Musk are often accused of promoting far-fetched conspiracy theories, their comments raised a question that has also worried longtime critics of Russia: How can it be right to invalidate voters’ ballots halfway through an election?

The court ordered a new vote after Calin Georgescu, a previously little-known ultranationalist, stunned Romania’s mainstream political parties by winning the opening round of the presidential race on Oct. 24. The court intervened just two days before a runoff vote that Mr. Georgescu looked well positioned to win.