Romania's constitutional court has annulled the first round of the country's 2024 presidential election process, which was narrowly won by far-right ultranationalist candidate Calin Georgescu amid allegations of Russian interference.

The historic decision means a second-round runoff that was scheduled for Sunday, when Georgescu would have gone head to head with his centrist rival Elena Lasconi, will no longer take place.

In a press release, the court said the annulment was based on Article 146(f) of the Constitution, emphasizing the need to ensure the correctness and legality of the electoral process. CNN

 court’s decision, announced Friday, is final and binding. It requires the Romanian government to restart the electoral calendar.

Friday’s decision caps off a troubled election cycle in the country, with the same court last week ordering a recount of the first-round votes.

It also comes just days after the vote was hit with fears over foreign interference, after declassified documents from Romania’s top security council revealed evidence of “aggressive hybrid Russian attacks.”

They also showed how Georgescu was boosted by potential interference on TikTok – the social media platform on which he largely ran his campaign – through algorithms, coordinated accounts and paid promotion, Reuters reported.

One of the declassified documents, from the Romanian intelligence agency, detailed more than 85,000 attempted cyber-attacks on election websites and IT systems, and concluded that “the attacker has considerable resources specific to an attacking state,” Reuters reported.

These findings prompted the US State Department to express concern and warn that a shift away from the West “would have serious negative impacts on U.S. security cooperation with Romania.”

In comments made Wednesday, ahead of the court’s annulment on Friday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement: “We are concerned by the Romanian Supreme Council for National Defense (CSAT)’s report of Russian involvement in malign cyber activity designed to influence the integrity of the Romanian electoral process.”

Miller added that the “data referenced in the report should be fully investigated to ensure the integrity of Romania’s electoral process.”