Romanians abroad had already started casting their ballots for a new president when the country’s top judiciary decided to cancel the election, and voting even continued for three hours before being halted. Now, like people at home, they’re left wondering what’s coming next.
The shock decision by the Constitutional Court on Friday to void the first round and scrap Sunday’s runoff added a new layer of drama that will now likely entrench the divisions exposed over the past two weeks. What will follow is a fresh showdown between the political mainstream and the far-right, disruptive forces it’s been trying to stop.
Prosecutors on Saturday already set the wheels into motion, raiding several houses of those suspected of illegal funding for a presidential candidate as part of the investigation into what happened during the campaign.