Appeal to all embassies and human rights organizations:
We respectfully request that you take a firm stance to ensure the conduct of an impartial process—specifically the case scheduled for December 19, 2024, at the Bucharest Court of Appeal—free from political influence or interference from security services. The Coalition for the Defense of the Rule of Law believes your intervention is crucial for defending the rule of law, safeguarding civil rights, and ensuring a fair and democratic framework.
Your Excellency,
We hereby wish to inform you about the undemocratic state of law and fact in which Romania dwells today, after the entire electoral process for the election of the President of Romania in 2024 was annulled by the Constitutional Court of Romania on 06.12.2024, as a result of the interference of the current President and the intelligence services with the electoral process.
First, we would like to clarify that, according to the Romanian Constitution and Romanian Law, the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) does not have any competence in the organization of the electoral process for the election of the President of Romania. It is solely the Government, through its issuing decisions, which can be exclusively annulled by the courts in Romania, that has competence in this regard.
The Constitutional Court of Romania is vested with the competence to oversee the compliance with the electoral procedure of the President of Romania and to confirm the results of the vote, that is, to validate or invalidate the election results.
In Romania though, there was the interference of the current President and intelligence services in the electoral process for the election of the President of Romania.
Furthermore, the first-round vote of the presidential elections took place on 24.11.2024, with the election result being established on 26.11.2024. Until the date of 24.11.2024, thus, not until 04.12.2024, the intelligence services did not introduce any formal notice to the Romanian criminal authorities in regard with any suspicions of interference from any state in the electoral process.
After the date of communication of the election results, which was on 24.11.2024, the current President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, called the meeting of the Supreme Council for National Defense (CSAT) to analyze possible risks to national security generated by the actions of state and non-state cyber actors on IT&C infrastructures supporting the electoral process on 27.11.20204.
On 28.11.2024, the CSAT found "the existence of cyber-attacks aimed at influencing the fairness of the electoral process" which consisted in the "preferential treatment" of a candidate during the electoral campaign. Therefore, the CSAT "demanded the authorities with responsibilities in the field of national security, those with responsibilities in the proper conduct of the electoral process, as well as the criminal prosecution bodies to urgently undertake all the necessary steps, according to their legal competences, in order to clarify the issues presented during the CSAT meeting". On the same day, on 28.11.2024, a communication was also made public by the Special Telecommunications Service (STS) which manages the IT&C infrastructure and supports the electoral process, which it stated that "in the period preceding the elections and while they were ongoing the elections, cyber-attacks have increased in number and complexity", but specified that all "were blocked at the security equipment level" . The STS notice also stated that " there are no suspicions nor indications regarding these cyber-attacks that would have had the effect of modifying or altering data in the IT&C infrastructure supporting the elections of November 24, 2024, whereas the fairness of the electoral process remained unaltered". STS reiterated that "the official results of the elections are those recorded on paper".
CSAT and STS did not identify any fraud related to the vote or to the establishment of the election results.
Following the CSAT meeting on 02.12.2024, after knowing the content of the CSAT decision, the CCR rejected the request to annul the elections, confirmed, and validated the results of the first-round and ruled for the second round of voting to be made for the candidates Călin Georgescu and Elena Valerica Lasconi (the first two candidates who received the most votes validly casted by the Romanian citizens).
On 04.12.2024, the current President of Romania published five declassified documents – intelligence notes of the secret services, allegedly analyzed during the CSAT meeting of 28.11.2024. From their content, the reading of these intelligence notes shows that none of them displays any content related to any notification done to the criminal authorities for any violations committed during the electoral process that would have affected the Romanian national security. The secret services had such obligation in case they had found any related evidence during their activity. Moreover, the intelligence notes issued by the Romanian Intelligence Service were drawn up after the CSAT meeting on 28.11.2024, and do not state any violation of an article of the Romanian law in, nor any penalty applied by the law for the violation of the legal provisions.
On 06.12.2024, while the voting was ongoing, untimely, the Constitutional Court of Romania exceeding its legal and constitutional powers, adopted a decision of annulment of the entire electoral process for the election of the President of Romania, based on the suspicions contained in informative notes of the secret services. This occurred while the government decisions, based on which the electoral process had been organized, were not annulled (they could only be annulled by the courts), as well as the final decision of the Constitutional Court of Romania of 02.12.2024 was not annulled, decision by which the same Court had confirmed the results after the first-round of voting and consequent decision to continue with the second-round of voting. Furthermore, committing an abuse of power, exceeding the constitutional and legal powers, the Constitutional Court of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, President (who expires on December 21, 2024), ruled under the considerations of such decision, and contrary to the provisions of the Romanian Constitution, that the mandate of the current President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, is extended until the newly elected President takes the oath. Klaus Iohannis had publicly declared that the effect of the CCR decision is that his mandate is extended, before the CCR decision was motivated and made public.
Immediately after the CCR issued the press release that it had annulled the entire electoral process, the Central Electoral Bureau ordered the immediate cessation of voting operations.
Proof that there is interference of the current President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, and the intelligence services in the annulment of the entire electoral process to elect the President of Romania is the fact that to date no criminal prosecution has been initiated against any person on the grounds that they acted to influence the electoral process in Romania.
Considering the above, as a result of the violation of civil rights in Romania, our association has filed a lawsuit to annul the illegal acts of the Central Electoral Bureau and remedy the violation of civil rights by obliging the Government to adopt a Government a decision to organize the second round of voting for the election of the President of Romania, with candidates Călin Georgescu and Elena Valerica Lasconi, as set forth in the CCR Decision of 02.12.2024, thus a final and generally binding decision, so that Romania represents a state governed by law and democratic.
This claim was filed under no. 2950/1/2024 with the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ) – a court which, according to the provisions of the Romanian Constitution, is the competent authority to administer justice and ensure the uniform interpretation and application of the law in Romania.
On 16.12.2024, the ICCJ rejected as unsubstantiated the exception (invoked by the Prosecutor's Office by the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the Romanian Intelligence Service and the Chief of Defense Staff) on ground that our request was not falling in the jurisdiction of the courts, and submitted it for resolution to the Bucharest Court of Appeal. The Bucharest Court of Appeal set a deadline for the resolution of the request on 19.12.2024.
Following the adoption of this solution by the ICCJ, a smear campaign against our association and our association's representatives was set forth in the media.
In the view of what here above presented, given that we are acting to fulfill the goals and objectives of our association, to protect the rule of law and democracy in Romania, as well as the right of Romanian citizens to free, periodic and democratic elections, we kindly ask for your support in taking a stand so that no pressure is put on us and the courts in Romania, so that the case is resolved by the courts impartially and objectively, and without any interference from politics or secret services.
We inform that numerous citizens support the resignation of the judges of the CCR and that of the President of Romania for the reasons presented above by signing an online petition, which can be viewed here:
Please find hereto attached:
- The request submitted to the ICCJ of Romania;
- ICCJ decision pronounced on 16.12.2024 in file no. 2950/1/2024.
Faithfully,
Coalition for the Defense of the Rule of Law
President Elena Radu
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