The presidential election in Romania was “strange to say the least’’ due to the non-admission of all candidates, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
Romania held the second round of presidential election, on Sunday.
With 100 per cent of ballots counted, Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan won the election with 53.6per cent of the vote.
The opposition Alliance for the Unification of Romanians (AUR) leader George Simion came second with 46.4per cent.
Independent right-wing candidate Calin Georgescu, who was initially expected to advance to the second round, was barred from running in the repeat election.
“Romania voted. The elections were, to say the least, strange in Romania.
“We know the story of the candidate who had the best chances, who was, let’s say, without bothering to find any justification, simply forcibly removed from the race,’’ Peskov told reporters.
In the absence of such a favorite candidate, the winner is the one who won, the official said, adding that this is a given.
“The fact that European countries; France, the UK and Germany interfered in the internal affairs of other countries is not news.
“It is not news; these are just fragments that come to light. Believe me, there are probably many more such fragments than you and I know,’’ the spokesman said.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said on Sunday that a Western European country had asked the messaging app to “silence conservative voices’’ in Romania ahead of the presidential election runoff.
He said later that it was Nicolas Lerner, director of France’s foreign intelligence service DGSE, who approached him. AFP reported on Monday that the DGSE denied Durov’s claim.
The November 2024 presidential election saw Georgescu and pro-Western politician Elena Lasconi advance to the runoff, but the Constitutional Court annulled the results alleging that a Russian influence operation had influenced the vote.
Moscow denied the allegations of interference in the Romanian election. Georgescu was barred from running in the repeat election. (RIA/NAN)
