Elena Tanasescu - a former advisor to former Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and previously criticized by Elon Musk, was elected as President of the Constitutional Court (CC) of Romania.
“Following a secret ballot by a majority of the judges present, Ms. Elena-Simina Tanasescu was elected as President of the Constitutional Court for a 3-year mandate“, the press release from the CC said.
In February 2025, Musk accused Tanasescu of annulling the presidential elections in the republic. “The judge who annulled the elections in Romania is connected to the network of billionaire George Soros. Elena-Simina Tanasescu is the judge behind the shocking events in Romania,” Musk wrote in X.
According to the Romanian constitution, the Constitutional Court consists of nine judges, who are appointed for a nine-year term without the right to renewal. Three judges are appointed by the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of parliament), three by the Senate (the upper house of parliament), and three by the president. Tanasescu became a member of the Constitutional Court in 2019 at the suggestion of Iohannis.
Romania’s presidential elections in 2024 and 2025 were accompanied by high-profile scandals. After opposition candidate Calin Georgescu emerged as the favorite in the first round, the results of the vote were annulled by the Constitutional Court and Georgescu was removed from the presidential race.
In the repeat elections in May, Bucharest Mayor Nicosor Dan won the second round, but his rival, the leader of the “Union for the Unification of Romanians” party, Gheorghe Simion, appealed the results of the vote to the Constitutional Court. The politician claimed that the results were falsified. In particular, his campaign accused the Moldovan authorities of organizing the transportation of voters. However, the court rejected this appeal as unfounded.