Telegram’s Pavel Durov has offered to provide testimony regarding Romania’s election after George Simion, a losing candidate, alleged fraud and requested the results be nullified.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov has stated his willingness to travel to Romania and testify about purported foreign interference in the country’s presidential election.
Durov announced his intention to “help” Romanian democracy in a post on X on Tuesday. This followed a message from George Simion, a right-wing Eurosceptic candidate who narrowly lost the election. Simion alleged that the election was subject to “external interferences by state and non-state actors,” including France and Moldova. He urged the Constitutional Court to immediately invalidate the results.
“I’m ready to come and testify if it helps Romanian democracy,” Durov posted in response to Simion.
The Sunday runoff election saw pro-EU centrist Nicusor Dan win with 53.6% of the vote compared to Simion’s 46.4%. Simion, however, has refused to accept the outcome, claiming foreign entities attempted to sabotage his campaign.
Simion’s allegations have received unexpected support from Durov. Durov has claimed that Nicolas Lerner, the head of French foreign intelligence, personally requested him to censor conservative voices on his platform before the recent Romanian presidential election. France’s foreign intelligence service, the Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE), has refuted these claims, stating that they contacted Durov only to “firmly remind him of his company’s responsibilities, and his own personally, in preventing terrorist and child pornography threats.”
Durov was arrested in France last August and charged with being an accomplice to crimes allegedly committed by Telegram users. The Russian-born entrepreneur, whose company is based in Dubai, was eventually released on €5 million ($5.46 million) bail and permitted to leave the country in mid-March.
The recent presidential election attempt in Romania follows a significant political scandal that arose from the November vote. In that instance, hardline right-wing independent Calin Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round. Romania’s Constitutional Court promptly annulled the initial vote, citing alleged Russian interference.
Media reports citing preliminary findings of the investigation into the matter suggested that Georgescu’s unexpected surge was likely caused by a campaign orchestrated by a firm connected to the ruling National Liberal Party, presumably to divide the conservative vote. However, Georgescu was ultimately barred from participating in the new election.
Romania’s Foreign Ministry has also accused Moscow of interfering in the recent runoff election. The Russian government has denied these accusations, stating that Bucharest’s “electoral mess” should not even be considered a legitimate vote.
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