The Constitutional Court’s decision on Friday — which is final — came after President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence this week that alleged Romania was the target of “aggressive hybrid Russian attacks” during the election period.

The alleged effort included thousands of social media accounts that promoted far-right populist Calin Georgescu across platforms such as TikTok and Telegram.

The court has decided “to annul the entire electoral process for the election of the President of Romania … to ensure the correctness and legality of the electoral process”, it said in Friday’s decision.

Georgescu — a pro-Russian candidate who wants to end Romania’s support for Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion — emerged as the frontrunner in the first-round vote on November 24 despite being a political outsider who declared zero campaign spending.

He was due to face pro-European Union centrist Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party in a runoff on Sunday. Voting is already under way in polling stations abroad.

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said the court’s ruling on Friday was “the only correct decision” after the declassified documents showed alleged Russian interference.

The intelligence files released on Wednesday were from the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Special Telecommunication Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In light of their release, Romania’s Constitutional Court received multiple legal complaints urging it to annul the first-round vote but it is not clear yet on what grounds it made the decision.

A new date will now be set to re-run the first round.“The electoral process to elect Romania’s president will be fully re-run, and the government will set a new date and … calendar for the neccessary steps,” the Constitutional Court said in a statement on Friday.

Sunday’s vote will elect a new government and prime minister and determine the formation of the country’s legislature comprising the 323-seat lower house and the senate (133 seats). Romanians will elect lawmakers for both chambers on Sunday.

Those who are abroad have been able to vote since Saturday.

The governing coalition of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL) is competing to get better of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR).

The PSD and the PNL, which formed an unlikely coalition in 2021, have dominated post-communist politics in Romania – a member of the European Union and NATO.

Georgescu, who is a former member of AUR and was its PM pick before he left in 2022, ran as an independent in the November 24 election, challenging entrenched mainstream parties. He garnered 23 percent of the votes in the first round of the presidential vote.

His unexpected success last Sunday aroused suspicions of interference in the campaign, prompted a vote recount and led to a defeated candidate asking the country’s top court to rerun the first round of voting.

The confusion means the parliamentary election is going ahead with voters uncertain whether the outcome of the presidential first-round vote will stand. They also do not know whether the presidential run-off – scheduled for December 8 between Georgescu and centrist Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party, or USR – will go ahead or be held at a later date.

The Constitutional Court considered the situation on Friday but decided to put off until Monday a decision on whether to annul the first round.

While the presidential role in Romania has significant decision-making powers in areas such as national security and foreign policy, the prime minister is the head of the nation’s government.

Many observers believe the presidential outcome indicates a sharp shift from Romania’s mainstream parties to more populist anti-establishment parties, whose voices have found fertile ground amid high inflation, high cost of living and a sluggish economy.