Nationalist Sosoaca bids to enter presidential election despite ban last year
The far-right politician is opposed to Romania being part of the EU and Nato.
Controversial Romanian politician Diana Sosoaca, who was barred by a top court from entering last year’s annulled presidential election, filed her candidacy on Thursday in an unlikely bid to enter the May rerun.
The 49-year-old former lawyer and Member of the European Parliament of the far-right nationalist SOS Romania party filed her candidacy at the central election bureau in the capital, Bucharest.
The bureau has 48 hours to register or reject. Rejections can be appealed within 24 hours.
The constitutional court, or CCR, barred the pro-Russia politician from entering last year’s race, arguing that her public discourse, including opposition to Romania’s European Union and Nato memberships, made her unfit to uphold the constitutional obligations of the presidency.
“After analysing the whole situation with our lawyers, they are no longer allowed to ban me because you cannot ban the same candidate twice for the same reasons,” Ms Sosoaca, wearing a pair of white boxing gloves, told a news conference on Thursday.
However, Cristi Danilet, a former Romanian judge, expects Ms Sosoaca’s second bid to be rejected.
The CCR’s previous ruling “is already a judicial precedent. Therefore, a new candidacy of hers must be rejected,” he told the Associated Press.
The court’s decision last year drew strong criticism from some civil rights groups and politicians, who denounced it as undermining democracy or politically motivated.
The first round of the rerun is scheduled for May 4. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the ballots, a runoff will follow on May 18. The deadline for presidential candidacy applications is March 15 at midnight.
Romania’s president serves a five-year term and has significant decision-making powers in areas such as national security, foreign policy and judicial appointments.
The runoff last December was cancelled when allegations emerged of electoral violations and claims that Russia had run a co-ordinated online campaign to promote Calin Georgescu, who ran as an independent.
Mr Georgescu has been banned from running this time around.
Elena Lasconi, leader of the Save Romania Union party, who was set to face Mr Georgescu in the scheduled runoff last year, also filed her candidacy on Thursday.
She has described the current political crisis as “a turning point” for Romania.
