Romania’s Central Electoral Committee has suspended the application by ultranationalist presidential candidate Calin Georgescu to run in the upcoming elections on Sunday, sparking condemnation and unrest.

The country's electoral committee, BEC, examined the documents filed by Georgescu but decided not to approve the one related to his campaign funding as it did not have the required signature, Euronews Romania reports.

Is Romania the canary in the 'death of democracy' coalmine?

After today's news, that canary - along with 'democracy' - is well and truly dead.

In a stunning turn of events - that we have a feeling could backfire disastrously on the elite establishment - Romania has barred far-right frontrunner Calin Georgescu from running in May’s presidential election, in a move that could worsen the country’s political turmoil.

The Bucharest-based electoral bureau invalidated Georgescu’s candidacy, a spokesman from the bureau said on Sunday. 

Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced his long-expected NYC mayoral bid Saturday — a late entry threatening to eclipse a crowded Democratic primary and deal embattled incumbent Eric Adams a political death blow.

Cuomo enters the crowded race widely considered the front runner after a monthslong shadow campaign, in which he coyly avoided officially announcing his political comeback while ruthlessly capitalizing behind-the-scenes on Adams’ scandal-plagued first term.

Andrew Cuomo officially launched his bid to be the next mayor of New York City, attempting a comeback in politics after the former New York governor’s high-profile resignation in 2021.

Cuomo, who left his previous post because of a damning sexual harassment scandal, announced his candidacy on Saturday against Mayor Eric Adams, a fellow Democrat who faces bribery and fraud charges.

The most significant factor in the mayor’s race here may be living 240 miles away at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

In a crowded field of mayoral aspirants, two Democrats with complicated relationships with President Donald Trump are poised to turn the race into a referendum on how New York voters want their city to engage with the current occupant of the White House.

Sunday’s German election could be the last chance for Europe’s centrist rulers, under assault from populist parties and an antagonistic U.S. administration, to show they can solve the region’s piling problems.

“It should be a priority to strengthen Europe as fast as possible so that we gradually achieve independence from the U.S.” Friedrich Merz, the victor of the election and Germany’s likely next chancellor, said on Sunday. “It’s clear that the Americans, at least this American administration, are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.” 

Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz has slammed US interference in the German elections, calling it 'as drastic, dramatic and shameful as that from Moscow' as the AfD surges into second place.

Merz, who is set to be the next German Chancellor after his conservative CDU took 28.5 per cent of the vote, last night criticised election interference by the US after tech billionaire Elon Musk and the Trump administration voiced support for the AfD.

Europe must seek to “achieve independence” from the United States, Germany’s likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz said after exit polls showed his opposition conservatives were on track to win Sunday’s election, in a vote that also saw surging support for the far-right.

Merz, an old-school conservative who has never held a government role previously, is set to lead Europe’s biggest economy and most populous state, after his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party won 28.6% of the vote, according to preliminary official results.

The centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its leader Friedrich Merz were the big winners of German federal elections on Sunday with 28% of the vote, provisional results confirmed.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) was second with 20%, doubling its vote share from Germany's last election in 2021, which turned out to be the best result for a far-right party in the country since World War II.