NEW YORK, May 19. /TASS/. American entrepreneur Elon Musk who is in charge of the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has supported Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov who refused to ban the channels of Romanian conservatives ahead of the presidential election in that country as requested by a "Western European government."
"Hear, hear!" Musk wrote on the X social network.
Later, Durov specified that French intelligence chief Nicolas Lerner had asked him to block the channels of Romanian conservatives on the eve of the presidential election but was rebuffed.
The presidential election held in Romania on May 18 was won by independent pro-European candidate and Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan with 53.60% of the vote after 100% of the ballots were counted. His rival, the leader of the nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians George Simion, garnered 46.40%.
This presidential election is a repeat election. The planned presidential election was interrupted at the end of last year by the Constitutional Court after nationalist candidate Calin Georgescu received the most votes in the first round on November 24, 2024. The court acted under the pretext of illegal financing of Georgescu’s campaign, hacking attacks on the digital infrastructure used in the electoral process, and alleged but unproven Russian interference.
This unprecedented move caused an uproar in Romania and abroad, but the government took note of the Constitutional Court’s decision and called a repeat presidential election.