Elon Musk calls Romanian top court judge a “tyrant,” JD Vance renews criticism of election annulment
<p>Elon Musk and US vice president JD Vance have both criticized <a href="https://www.romania-insider.com/ccr-annuls-presidential-elections-romania-december-2024" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Romania's decision to cancel its presidential elections last December</a>, with Musk calling the head judge of the Constitutional Court a "tyrant" and Vance questioning the country's commitment to democratic values.</p>

<p>Musk took aim at Marian Enache, the president of Romania's Constitutional Court (CCR), who played a key role in the election annulment. "This guy is a tyrant, not a judge," Musk wrote, sharing a post from internet personality Mario Nawfal.</p>

<p>Nawfal's post titled "Romania's top judge rejects US pressure for fair elections," referenced a recent interview in which Enache ruled out the possibility of redoing the second round of voting, stating that "the electoral process has been compromised."</p>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">This guy is a tyrant, not a judge <a href="https://t.co/ghE9X4W5G3">https://t.co/ghE9X4W5G3</a></p>
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1892589525081133259?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<p>Elon Musk's latest comment follows <a href="https://www.romania-insider.com/elon-musk-calin-georgescu-romania-february-2025?utm_source=Romania+Insider+Newsletters+Database&amp;utm_campaign=8fac6720a4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_4_23_2020_8_3_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_ece3d6d4cf-8fac6720a4-405932956&amp;mc_cid=8fac6720a4&amp;mc_eid=a8b761f4de" rel="noopener" target="_blank">an earlier post on X</a> in which he appeared to endorse pro-Russian Călin Georgescu. Musk shared an alleged statement from Georgescu vowing to "ban the entire Soros network in Romania," adding, "Romania deserves its own sovereign."</p>

<p>Meanwhile, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), US vice president JD Vance again condemned Romania's decision to annul its presidential elections, in a parallel with the situation in Germany.</p>

<p>"Do you think that the American taxpayer is gonna stand for that, if you get thrown in jail in Germany for posting a mean tweet? Of course, they're not. So the point that I'm trying to make to our European friends, and I think that they're our friends, is that friendship is based on shared values. You do not have shared values if you're jailing people for saying we should close down our border, you don't have shared values if you cancel elections because you don't like the result - and that happened in Romania," Vance <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUsTrLM3YeY&amp;t=2483s" rel="noopener" target="_blank">said</a>.</p>

<p>"You do not have shared values if you're so afraid of your own people that you silence them and shut them up," he added.</p>

<p>Vance's comments mark his second public condemnation of Romania's canceled election in the past week. <a href="https://www.romania-insider.com/jd-vance-romania-elections-annulment-feb-2025" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Speaking in Munich days earlier</a>, he accused European leaders of suppressing populist voices under the guise of combating misinformation. He argued that the Romanian Constitutional Court's ruling was based on "flimsy suspicions of an intelligence agency and enormous pressure from its continental neighbors."&nbsp;</p>

<p>"If our democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn't very strong to begin with," JD Vance told the Munich conference on February 14.</p>

<p>Romania's election controversy has sparked international scrutiny, with Musk and Vance's remarks adding further pressure on the country's leadership. Earlier this week, <a href="https://www.romania-insider.com/bloomberg-trump-administration-presse-romania-georgescu-presidency-2025" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Bloomberg reported</a> that the Trump administration is pressuring Romanian authorities to ensure that pro-Russian politician&nbsp;Călin Georgescu&nbsp;is allowed to continue his electoral campaign unhindered and run in the presidential elections in May.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Romania is set to repeat its presidential elections on May 4, with a runoff on May 18. Georgescu, who emerged as the unexpected winner of last year's first presidential round, remains the frontrunner in polls and has gained support for his harsh criticism of the annulment of the previous vote.</p>

<p><i>irina.marica@romania-insider.com</i></p>

<p><i>(Photos source:&nbsp;</i><meta charset="UTF-8" /><em><a href="https://www.dreamstime.com/friends2100_info">Frédéric Legrand</a>/<a href="https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos">Dreamstime.com</a>&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;</em><meta charset="UTF-8" /><i>Facebook/Munich Security Conference, by&nbsp;</i><em>Michael Kuhlmann)</em></p>