The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday rejected an appeal by Romania's far-right presidential candidate to overturn a domestic court decision to annul a December presidential election.

Crin Antonescu, the proposed single candidate of the pro-European coalition government would get 25% of the vote, followed by Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, who said he could run as an independent, who would get 17%.

By Iulian Ernst in Bucharest A new poll by Avangarde shows ultranationalist independent candidate Calin Georgescu is the most popular candidate ahead of the May presidential election, but he may struggle to secure a second-round victory against Crin Antonescu,

The unprecedented cancelation of Romania’s vote drew condemnation from across the political spectrum, including from Georgescu’s ideological foes. His would-be opponent in the now-canceled runoff, reformist candidate Elena Lasconi, said Romania’s democracy was being “trampled” by the state.

Romania's coalition government approved on Thursday a re-run of a two-round presidential election on May 4 and May 18 as previously agreed, and tightened campaign rules for big social media platforms including TikTok.

Călin Georgescu, the far-right candidate who emerged as the favourite at the first round of the annulled presidential election in December, is leading in an opinion poll based on him running in the vote rescheduled for May.

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's ruling coalition agreed on Wednesday to rerun a two-round presidential election on May 4 and May 18 and stuck to an original plan to endorse a single candidate, the Liberal Party, one of the three coalition parties, said.

Călin Georgescu, an independent far-right candidate with pro-Russian sympathies, surprisingly won the first round of the presidential election on 24 November. In response, Romania's Constitutional Court decided to annul the first round of the presidential election and order a full rerun, preventing the run-off from taking place.