CĂLIN GEORGESCU v. ROMANIA DECISION 24 November 2024, the applicant having presented himself as an independent candidate not supported by a political party, was best placed with more than 2 million votes cast in his favour (22,94% of the total votes), and he qualified for the second round. The results of the first round, in particular those concerning the applicant, were largely considered by the media as a surprise considering the previous estimations of the polls. 3. On 28 November 2024 the Supreme Council of National Defence (Romanian acronym “CSAT”) held a meeting, summoned by the incumbent President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis. At the end of the meeting, the CSAT issued a press release which stated that, although it didn’t have any role in the electoral process, the CSAT had to analyse data pointing to an impact on national security. The press release noted that there were documents indicating cyber-attacks, by State and non-State actors, aimed at influencing the correctness of the electoral process. It was also noted that one candidate – who was not named in the press release, but easily identified by the media and the public as being the applicant – benefited from massive exposure and preferential treatment by Tik Tok social media platform. In that connection, the CSAT indicated that in the video material published on this platform, that candidate had not been labelled as a presidential candidate, which was not in compliance with the electoral rules and a decision of the Central Electoral Bureau (Romanian acronym “BEC”). The CSAT requested the competent authorities in areas of national security, criminal investigation and supervision of the electoral process to urgently take necessary measures to clarify the aspects presented at the meeting. 4. Having previously received a complaint by another candidate who lost in the first round of the presidential elections and after it had ordered that votes cast be recounted, by a decision no. 31 of 2 December 2024, delivered pursuant to Article 146 (f) of the Constitution of Romania and Articles 37 and 76 of Law no. 47/1992 on the organisation and functioning of the Constitutional Court (“Law no. 47/1992”), the Constitutional Court confirmed and validated the results of the first round of the presidential elections. 5. On 4 December 2024 President Iohannis declassified the intelligence documents (“Information notes”) from the meeting of 28 November 2024 of the CSAT (see paragraph 3 above). B. The decision of the Constitutional Court of 6 December 2024 6. On 6 December 2024, having examined at its own motion the correctness and lawfulness of the electoral process in the light of the new declassified intelligence (see paragraph 5 above), the Constitutional Court decided, unanimously and pursuant to Article 146 (f) of the Constitution, to annul the entire electoral process with regard to the election of the President of Romania (decision no. 32 of 6 December 2024). It held that it was to be 2