The Central Electoral Office of Romania rejected this Sunday the candidacy of the pro-Russian ultranationalist Călin Georgescu for the presidential elections of May 4 and in which he started as the favorite.

After this decision, a period of 24 hours is opened to file appeals with the Constitutional Court, which has an additional 48 hours to issue a ruling. This means that the final decision could be known on Wednesday night.

Georgescu won against all odds the first round of the Romanian presidential elections on November 24, subsequently annulled by the Constitutional Court for indications of illegal financing and Russian interference.

Georgescu’s supporters gathered in front of the Central Electoral Office and reacted violently, breaking the fences installed by the Police to cordon off the building.

“A direct blow to the heart of world democracy!”, said Georgescu on the social network X when he learned of the decision and added: “Europe is now a dictatorship, Romania is under tyranny!”

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The leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), George Simion, whose ultra-nationalist and Eurosceptic party is currently the main opposition force in the country, described the rejection of Georgescu’s candidacy as an undemocratic act.

“It is a continuation of the coup d’état of December 6,” he wrote on Facebook in reference to the date on which the Constitutional Court annulled the presidential elections.

Georgescu, relatively little known in Romania until a few months ago, won in the first round thanks to a campaign on social networks, especially TikTok, in which he claimed not to have invested anything.

His message against traditional parties attracted above all young voters and voters from rural areas, disenchanted with corruption and the low standard of living in the country of 19 million inhabitants bordering Ukraine.

The leader of the ultra-nationalist party POT, Anamaria Gavrilă, also denounced the decision, said that Romania is “a dictatorship” and questioned the vote of the 14 members of the Central Electoral Office.

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According to sources cited by the Romanian newspaper G4Media, the candidacy was rejected for both formal and substantive reasons.

One of the determining factors was the declaration of property presented by Georgescu, which presented inconsistencies compared to the one he had delivered in the November elections.

The ultra-nationalist candidate, who has defended an approach to Russia and has questioned that Ukraine was a state, defends a reactionary ideology and in the past praised Romanian fascist leaders responsible for the Holocaust in the country during World War II.

In the latest polls, Georgescu was the favorite for the elections, monopolizing more than 35% of the vote, which guaranteed him to reach the second round.

At the end of February, the Romanian Prosecutor’s Office accused him of six crimes, including committing actions against the constitutional order and creating a fascist and anti-Semitic organization.

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The Prosecutor’s Office announced the charges after interrogating him for more than four hours and in addition to the aforementioned crimes he was suspected of continued falsehood about his assets and the financing of his campaign.