Romanian hard-right presidential candidate challenges election defeat

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(Reuters) -Romania’s defeated hard-right presidential contender George Simion said late on Tuesday that he would challenge the ballot’s result, alleging interference by France and Moldova, after a centrist victory was met with relief by many European leaders.

Centrist Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan recovered ground to win the country’s presidential election run-off on Sunday, securing about 54% of ballots cast against 46% for Simion, who had pledged to put Romania on a path inspired by U.S. President Donald Trump’s politics.

Simion had earlier conceded defeat, after initially saying he won.

But late on Tuesday he said in a post on X: “I officially ask Constitutional Court TO ANNUL Romanian presidential elections.”

European Union and NATO member Romania was plunged into a constitutional crisis in December when its top court annulled an ongoing presidential election that another hard-right candidate was on track to win, citing suspicions of Russian meddling. Moscow denied the allegations.

In his X post Simion said he was challenging this month’s result, “For the very reasons December elections were annulled: EXTERNAL INTERFERENCES by state and non-state actors.” He added that “Neither France, nor Moldova, nor anyone else has the right to interfere in the elections of another state.”

The Romanian electoral commission did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

On Sunday Pavel Durov, the founder of the Telegram messaging app, accused the head of France’s foreign intelligence agency of asking him to ban Romanian conservative voices ahead of the country’s elections, saying he refused the request.

France’s DGSE foreign spy agency denied the allegation.

In a post on X referring to Simion’s comments, Durov said he was “ready to come and testify if it helps Romanian democracy.”

Romanian news website Biziday also cited Simion accusing Moldova of interfering in the ballot by buying votes. The Moldovan foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz in Warsaw; Editing by Aidan Lewis)