On December 6th, the Romanian Constitutional Court (CCR) annulled the Presidential Elections. The CCR’s decision followed the disclosure of intelligence documents on December 4th. These showed Russian interferences in the electoral process and campaign, via propaganda and disinformation. The gravity of the violations evidenced by the documents released, coupled with the many concerning declarations by Călin Georgescu, made the CCR’s intervention vital. However, the modalities of and belatedness of the CCR’s and the Romanian authorities’ response with respect to this unfolding mess do nothing but exacerbate the root causes of Georgescu’s win, bolstering his claim that democracy is being denied to the people of Romania.
Intensity is a completely pointless measure for judgement because efforts can, in principle, have no impact at all. It would open the door wide to the adversary denying any kind of elections for very cheap: No planning necessary, no subtlety necessary, just employ sufficient effort to overcome the intensity bar. It is a suitable measure when it comes to deciding whether to have a closer look at things, though.