Bucharest’s district electoral commissions have begun a recount of millions of votes cast in the first round of Romania’s presidential elections, ordered by the Constitutional Court following a protest by one of the candidates, Toni Grebla, president of the Authority Permanent Electoral Council (AEP) said on Friday.
The AEP president said small counties could complete the operation on Friday, but that recounts of votes cast in areas with significant populations, especially those from abroad, could be delayed.
He pointed out that the AEP has no jurisdiction in this matter and that the decision of the Constitutional Court is executed by the Central Electoral Commission, a special body created for the presidential elections and complemented by representatives of the parties.
In its decision yesterday, the CEC ordered the district election commissions, the capital district election commissions and the foreign election commission to count votes cast at home and abroad and complete new protocols by December 1, setting the deadline for Sunday at 10:00 p.m.
Speaking to Romanian public radio, Grebla explained that if the Constitutional Court decides next week and determines that there has been fraud that has radically changed the order of nominations and therefore orders re-election, then, according to the law, The first round should be scheduled for December 15, and the second for December 29.
As a possible beneficiary of the recount, the Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu – the candidate who took third place with a margin of 2,740 votes Elena Lasconi and therefore abandoned the second round, he stated that, despite the close result, his Social Democratic Party did not present a protest, accepted the voters’ decision and wished the two remaining candidates that the elections would be a success. The current prime minister pretends that the vote count does not concern him.
