Elon Musk ramps up Romanian election dispute, branding chief judge a tyrant

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(Reuters) – Elon Musk labelled the chief judge of Romania’s top court a “tyrant” on Thursday in the latest broadside aimed at Bucharest by a member of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration after the cancellation of a 2024 presidential election.

Romania’s Constitutional Court voided the election in December before a second round of voting, after declassified security documents showed suspicions of Russian interference in favour of far-right NATO-critic Calin Georgescu, accusations denied by Moscow.

On Wednesday, Constitutional Court chief judge Marian Enache denounced what he said were threats made by Georgescu, who has warned top court judges that should he be elected, they will be tried for high treason.

In Munich last week, U.S. Vice President JD Vance questioned the cancellation of Romania’s election, using it as an example of what he said was undemocratic censorship of free speech and political opponents by European governments.

Musk, who is spearheading the Trump administration’s new Department of Government Efficiency, on Thursday shared a post on his X social media platform which said that Enache had rejected U.S. pressure over whether Georgescu should be allowed to run in the repeat election in May.

“This guy is a tyrant, not a judge,” Musk wrote.

The top court was not immediately available to comment.

Musk has previously reposted Georgescu comments as well as podcasts by controversial right-wing hosts such as Alex Jones that featured him.

Georgescu, who has praised Romania’s 1930s fascist leaders and expressed admiration for both the U.S. and Russian presidents, remains voters’ top choice in opinion polls.

Musk has faced accusations of meddling in European politics after he criticised leaders including Britain’s Keir Starmer while openly supporting Germany’s far-right AfD in a German parliamentary election scheduled for Sunday.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw and Luiza Ilie in Bucharest; Editing by Bill Berkrot)