Romania’s top court has upheld a decision to ban presidential election frontrunner Călin Georgescu from standing in a rerun of the vote in May, sparking protest in Bucharest and leaving the country’s far-right parties four days to find a candidate.

Georgescu, an anti-EU, Moscow-friendly populist, surged from almost nowhere to win the first round of the country’s presidential election last year, but the result was annulled by Romania’s top court because of suspected Russian interference.

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. 

In United States Vice President JD Vance’s February 14th speech at the Munich Security Conference, he criticized Romania's annulment of its presidential election held in December and spoke to several large issues facing Europe.

The Romanian government nullified the election results on "flimsy suspicions of an intelligence agency and enormous pressure from its continental neighbors,” remarked Vance.

Prosecutors in Romania have opened criminal proceedings against ultranationalist politician and 2024 presidential election candidate Călin Georgescu on six counts, including anticonstitutional acts and misreporting his finances, authorities said on Wednesday.

The charges also revolve around his support for sympathisers of the Iron Guard, a pre-World War II fascist and antisemitic movement and political party, which is illegal under Romanian law.

Belgium has a new government. All it took was seven months of negotiation — which by Belgian standards is breakneck speed. New Prime Minister Bart De Wever had previously served as mayor of Antwerp from 2013, besides leading his N-VA party for the last two decades. An experienced and formidable politician, it’s surprising it’s taken him this long to lead his country.