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UN: Romania needs election without exclusion of opposition

People shout slogans and wave Romanian and EU flags during a Pro-Europe rally ahead of the presidential runoff at the University Plaza in downtown Bucharest on 5 December 2024. [Andrei Pungovschi/Getty Images]
People shout slogans and wave Romanian and EU flags during a Pro-Europe rally ahead of the presidential runoff at the University Plaza in downtown Bucharest on 5 December 2024. [Andrei Pungovschi/Getty Images]

GENEVA  – Romania must ensure the electoral process is fully inclusive, an independent human rights expert said today, after the recent disqualification of a leading presidential candidate.


“While states have a legitimate duty to safeguard electoral integrity and fairness, including against foreign interference, such measures must be based on due process and transparent evidence,” said George Katrougalos, the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order.


The expert noted that, on 6 December 2024, Romania’s Constitutional Court annulled the first round of the 2024 presidential election, citing alleged foreign interference and financial irregularities. On 9 March 2025, the electoral committee disqualified the leading candidate stating that his actions and statements were incompatible with the presidential office. The Constitutional Court later upheld the ban, he noted.


“These decisions come amid an increasingly polarised political climate, marked by the resurgence of far-right rhetoric and attempts to rehabilitate historical fascist figures as nationalist heroes,” he said, noting that the Constitutional Court’s ruling relied on declassified intelligence documents from Romania’s national security services, which have not undergone independent verification.


“While Romania’s legal prohibition of fascist glorification is commendable, barring candidates from elections does not address the root causes of historical revisionism or nationalist extremism,” Katrougalos said. “Such exclusions can embolden anti-establishment narratives, fuel distrust in democratic institutions, and deepen societal divisions.”


“A strong democracy must balance majority rule with the protection of fundamental human rights. Both ‘illiberal democracy’ and ‘undemocratic liberalism’ threaten these core values,” the expert warned.


He noted that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights establish a clear link between fundamental freedoms and a functioning political democracy. Excluding political opponents—particularly those with significant electoral support—represents a serious departure from democratic principles.


“This approach echoes Bertolt Brecht’s satirical critique, in which a government might ‘dissolve the people and elect another’ – actions amounting to a denial of democracy itself,” Katrougalos said.


He urged Romanian authorities to guarantee the participation of all candidates, free from arbitrary exclusions.


The expert has been in contact with the government on these concerns.




© OHCHR 1996-2025

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