DEFEATED Romanian presidential election candidate George Simion has asked a top court to annul the results, alleging that foreign interference and co-ordinated manipulation affected last Sunday’s vote.

Mr Simion, who leads the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, conceded defeat after losing in a run-off round to Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, who obtained 53.6 per cent of the ballots cast, a margin of more than 829,000 votes.

Mr Simion said in a statement on Tuesday that he had filed a request with the Constitutional Court to annul the vote, claiming to have “irrefutable evidence” — which he did not reveal — that France, Moldova and “other actors” meddled in the ballot. 

He also alleged that “deceased people” had voted.

Mr Simion claimed that there had been “an orchestrated effort to manipulate institutions, direct media narratives and ultimately impose a result that does not reflect the sovereign will of the Romanian people.”

Hours after voting opened on Friday for Romanians abroad, Mr Simion accused the Moldovan government of election fraud, which both Moldovan and Romanian authorities rejected.

Sunday’s vote was held months after a top court voided the previous election, held last November, in which the far-right outsider Calin Georgescu led the first round, following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which Moscow has denied.

Mr Simion said on Tuesday that he would ask the court to cancel the May rerun on the same grounds as the court’s decision last year.

He capitalised on the furore over the annulment of that election and, after coming fourth in last year’s cancelled vote, allied with Mr Georgescu, who was banned in March from standing in the election rerun. 

In the first round of the rerun on May 4, Mr Simion won 40.5 per cent of the vote in a field of 11 candidates, putting him in a second round against Mr Dan.