A month ago Mr Georgescu was seen as a crankish no-hoper, drawing about 5% in polls. But in the first round of the election on November 24th he came first with 23%. Just before the second-round run-off against Elena Lasconi, a lacklustre centre-right candidate, one poll had him leading with 58%. This was a political earthquake.

Romanian authorities raced to piece together how a little-known pro-Russian candidate won the first round of a presidential election that’s now been annulled as they carried out a crackdown of surging extremist forces.

Calin Georgescu, whose stunning victory in the first round of Romania's presidential election was declared void on Friday, is a hard-right, self-styled outsider critical of NATO who wants to end his country's support for its neighbour Ukraine.

A top Romanian court has annulled the first round of the country’s presidential election, days after declassified intelligence alleged Russia ran a coordinated online campaign to promote the far-right outsider who won the first round.

Romania’s pro-European parties kicked off talks on Monday for a new government following the shock cancellation of a presidential vote whose first round was won by a fringe Russia-friendly candidate.

Dozens of armed men were arrested on their way to the Romanian capital to take part in protests against the decision to scrap presidential elections because of alleged Russian interference. The frontrunner in the annulled vote,

VOA's Russian service speaks with regional experts about the unprecedented decision by Romania’s Constitutional Court to annul the results of the first round of the presidential election. The decision followed the publication of documents by Romanian intelligence services that claimed 25,

A Romanian court has annulled the first round of the country's presidential election after Russia allegedly ran a coordinated online campaign to promote the far-right outsider who won the first round.