Justice Minister: the May elections will take place and we will not have a 'second round back'

The May elections will take place and we will not have a second round, the Minister of Justice assures, after a judge of the Ploiesti Court of Appeal cancelled and suspended the Constitutional Court's ruling of December on the resumption of the entire presidential electoral process.

In the case of the Ploiesti judge, CSM has already referred the case to the Judicial Inspection to check whether he has committed a disciplinary offence.

This in a context in which in more than 30 identical cases, the decisions handed down by the court have been to dismiss the action.

"Suspends the execution of the Constitutional Court's judgment of 6 December 2024, pending the final resolution of the case. Admit the action for annulment. Annuls the Constitutional Court's judgement", is Thursday's decision of the Ploiesti Court of Appeal.

The plaintiff is Popescu Gheorghita, defendant Constitutional Court, Judge Alexandru Vasile.

The action was registered earlier this month, as were dozens of similar petitions filed in a coordinated wave earlier this month in appeal courts across the country.

Most have already been rejected. Not the Ploiesti one, which is not final and has already been challenged by the Prosecutor's Office of the Ploiesti Court of Appeal.

However, it comes as a surprise to most of those who have reacted publicly, given that it is well known that Constitutional Court judgements are final and unassailable.

There were also opinions that the electoral process for the May elections should be interrupted because the Ploiesti decision would suspend the execution of the CCR judgement until the final resolution of the case.

The Minister of Justice says that such an argument does not hold water.

He explained to Radio Romania News that the decisions of the Constitutional Court are not administrative acts, so they cannot be challenged in administrative litigation.

Radu Marinescu: The judgement of the Constitutional Court of Romania took effect when it was pronounced. The elections were cancelled and the Government was ordered to act in accordance with the law in order to set the calendar and hold new elections, which the Government has already done. In other words, at the time of this judgement of the Ploiesti Court of Appeal, there are no longer any effects of the Constitutional Court's judgement to be suspended. Put simply, the elections are still going ahead.

The Central Electoral Office has already communicated that the work of all electoral offices is continuing.

Translated by: Radu Matei