OPINION:
You may recall that after Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, there was an investigation, lasting nearly two years and costing more than $30 million, into claims of Russian collusion with Mr. Trump during the election.
Ultimately it was found Mr. Trump’s campaign had absolutely nothing to do with Russia and that the story had originated out of the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
The impact of the false accusations, however, was huge. Normally a new president enjoys a honeymoon period early in his term and much of his agenda is implemented. A significant portion of Mr. Trump’s first-term plans were thwarted by the shadow cast by the “Russia, Russia, Russia” nonsense.
The left again pitched its tent at the theater of the absurd in the 2024 election.
Democrats, desperate in the closing weeks of a presidential campaign and saddled with a floundering candidate who had never garnered a single primary vote, declared democracy itself was on the ballot. In the thickest bit of irony most Americans have witnessed in a generation, voters were told that a vote for Trump was a vote against democracy.
Mr. Trump won handily in November. He was sworn into office in January. Somehow, democracy has survived.
That may not be the case in Romania however. Democracy hangs in the balance of a Constitutional Court decision this week, in a much more serious way.
If Romania’s highest court allows all qualified candidates to appear on the upcoming presidential ballot, democracy survives. But it is entirely possible that the court may opt for backroom political maneuvers instead and ban conservative candidates, thus taking away the Romanian public’s right to choose.
One of the tasks of Romania’s Constitutional Court is to certify that names submitted to appear on the ballot have met the necessary requirements. After the vote, the court will be tasked with certifying the outcome of the election.
Last November, Calin Georgescu, a pro-family, “Romania First” candidate, shocked the establishment by becoming the top vote-getter in a field of 14 candidates. The court certified the outcome.
Mr. Georgescu and the second-placed candidate, who also happened to lean right of center, were scheduled to be on a run-off ballot on Dec. 8. But on Dec. 6, the court, under enormous pressure from the sitting left-of-center party, stunned the public and reversed its own ruling. The November vote was declared null and void.
The reason? Russian collusion. No joke. The claim really was Russian collusion.
A new vote was scheduled for May 2025. In late February, Mr. Georgescu was on his way to file the necessary paperwork to be on that ballot when he was stopped in traffic and arrested. He now faces a long list of questionable charges and has been banned from the May ballot.
In Romanian politics, you are apparently not innocent until proven guilty. You’re just banned.
With November’s top candidate out, conservatives faced a tough challenge. At least 200,000 signatures of registered voters are required to earn a place on the ballot. With only days until the government qualification deadline, conservatives needed to decide who to nominate and get the required signatures.
George Simion, leader of the opposition Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR), which is parliament’s second-largest party, has stepped forward. Mr. Simion is young, dynamic, well-known and well-liked.
He is also conservative. Some fear that the last part may influence the court’s decision. He submitted far in excess of the number of petition signatures required and was approved by the Central Election Bureau.
He now awaits the final decision of Romania’s Constitutional Court as to whether he will be on the May ballot.
However, the Bureau is continuing its ideological purity tests, rejecting the candidacy of Diana Sosoaca of the nationalist S.O.S. Romania party on the grounds that she had been found in the last election to have opposed Romania’s memberships in the European Union and NATO, which supposedly means she cannot uphold the constitutional obligations of the presidency.
Why does this matter? Romania may only have a fairly small population of about 15 million people, but precisely because it is a member of NATO and of the European Union. Clearly the world’s expectations are that it remains a democracy with its people free to choose its leaders and their stances on key issues.
It’s not all that long ago that communism reigned supreme there. Many older Romanians remember when they were forced to follow the will of an elite few.
It’s no exaggeration to say that the Constitutional Court’s decision this week will determine whether democracy will survive in Romania. Is it a nation of its people or has become merely a hybrid regime hiding behind a constitutional facade?
Romania’s future relationship with the United States may be at stake as well. Vice President J.D. Vance and top Trump advisor Elon Musk are among those suggesting freedom is being suppressed.
More importantly, the hope of a nation’s people hangs in the balance.
Is it really a democracy? We will have an answer in the coming days.
This post was originally published on here
