Bucharest (AFP) - Romanian police raided houses on Saturday probing alleged vote irregularities in favour of the far right, a day after the top court took the unprecedented decision to scrap the presidential election amid claims of Russian interference.

Coming just before the presidential run-off, the court’s shock move opens the way for a new electoral process starting from scratch in the EU and NATO member state bordering war-torn Ukraine.

The annulment follows a spate of intelligence documents declassified by the presidency this week detailing allegations against Calin Georgescu – the far-right candidate who had unexpectedly won the first presidential round – and Russia.

Those include claims of “massive” social media promotion and cyberattacks.

Police searched three houses in Brasov city in central Romania on Saturday as part of the investigation “in connection with crimes of voter corruption, money laundering, computer forgery,” said a statement from the prosecutor’s office.

Among the houses searched was that of businessman Bogdan Peschir, a TikTok user who according to the declassified documents allegedly paid $381,000 to those involved in the promotion of Georgescu, Romanian media reported.

Peschir has compared his support for Georgescu to the world’s richest man Elon Musk’s backing of US president-elect Donald Trump.

- ‘Strengthen social media security’ -

Little-known outsider Georgescu, who topped the first round of voting on November 24, was favourite to win the second round on Sunday against centrist pro-EU mayor Elena Lasconi, according to several polls.

But the constitutional court on Friday unanimously decided to annul the entire electoral process as it was “marred… by multiple irregularities and violations of electoral legislation”.

Documents drawn up for a top security council meeting after the first round of voting “revealed an aggressive promotional campaign, in violation of electoral legislation” on social media.

President Klaus Iohannis – who has said he will stay in office until a fresh election can be held – said on Saturday that he “had an in-depth phone discussion” with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.

Both agreed on the “need to strengthen the security of social media”, Iohannis added on X.

The European Commission announced earlier this week that it had stepped up monitoring TikTok after Romania’s authorities alleged “preferential treatment” of Georgescu on the platform – a claim the company has denied.

Another document declassified this week said Romania was a “target for aggressive Russian hybrid actions”, including cyberattacks.

- ‘Major danger’ -

The United States said it had faith in Romania’s institutions and called for a “peaceful democratic process”.

Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., on X branded the vote’s cancellation an “attempt at rigging the outcome” and “denying the will of the people”.

Georgescu, a 62-year-old former civil servant, called it “a formalised coup d’etat” and said democracy was “under attack”.

His team on Saturday declined to comment on the raids, saying they “will not comment or provide answers until we have exact data”.

Georgescu and another far-right party, the AUR, have said they plan to appeal the decision to stop the voting to the High Court of Cassation and Justice.

A past admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Georgescu, an EU and NATO sceptic, in recent days had reframed himself as “ultra pro-Trump,” vowing to put Romania “on the world map” and cut aid for neighbouring Ukraine.

Political scientist Costin Ciobanu told AFP that the annulment has “further polarised Romanian society”.

With trust in institutions and the ruling class already low, the vote’s cancellation poses a “major danger that Romanians will think that it doesn’t matter how they vote”, Ciobanu added.

“There’s a lot of work to be done to ensure that the elections that will be organised next year will be free, fair and transparent,” he said, adding chances were high the top court could bar Georgescu from the next presidential elections given the allegations against him.

Elsewhere in the EU, Austria annulled presidential elections in 2016 because of procedural irregularities.

In Romania, a new government is expected to set another date for the presidential vote.

In last weekend’s legislative elections, the ruling Social Democrats came top.

But far-right parties made big gains, securing an unprecedented third of the ballots on mounting anger over soaring inflation and fears over Russia’s war in Ukraine.

In a joint appeal on Wednesday, the Social Democrats and three other pro-EU parties – together making up an absolute majority in parliament – signed an agreement to form a coalition, promising “stability”.