Romania’s top court ordered a recount after a little-known ultranationalist candidate scored a surprise victory in Sunday’s presidential election, as a security panel said the contest was affected by a cyber operation aimed at influencing the outcome.

A recount of the votes cast in Sunday's first round of presidential elections in Romania has been ordered by the country's top court following allegations that social media platform TikTok gave "preferential treatment" to the surprise winner,

Barely known a year ago, far-right candidate Calin Georgescu successfully dominated social network TikTok to emerge the shock winner of Romania's first-round presidential election -- an online campaign that has raised suspicions.

The short-form video-sharing company TikTok, in an official statement sent on November 28 to Agerpres, assured that no evidence of a "covert influence operation" has been found on the platform in recent weeks related to the presidential elections in Romania,

A top court issued the ruling just days after an ultranationalist outsider unexpectedly won the most votes in the first round of presidential elections held Sunday.

The Romanian case puts the European Commission in a tough spot, as investigating TikTok's role in how the vote went down could be seen as interfering in national elections. Romanians are scheduled to head to the polls for a parliament election this weekend and a second round of its presidential vote on Dec. 8.

Romania’s Supreme Country Defense Council (CSAT) summoned on November 28 announced that “cyber attacks with the aim of influencing the correctness of the electoral process” took place and, separately,

Romania on Friday began recounting the votes from last week's dramatic first-round presidential election, amid concerns the ballot might be annulled as authorities pointed to Russia's influence and al