PresidentialElection2025/ ODIHR observers: Key aspects of elections left without sufficient oversight

Key aspects of the elections were left without sufficient oversight, with the authorities' response, although improved, fragmented and lacking transparency, shows a preliminary report presented by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) observation mission at a press conference on Monday."The recent efforts of the Romanian state authorities to improve electoral integrity are noteworthy. The elections were managed efficiently. However, they were marred by insufficient oversight of key aspects of the campaign," said Lucie Potuckova, head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.She referred to inauthentic content online and praised the legislative framework as adequate, adding, however, that "the recent changes have not sufficiently addressed the problems that impact public trust".The OSCE representative said news coverage in media outlets was balanced, while others "reflected political affiliations".In conclusion, Potuckova said that the first round of elections was managed efficiently, "but more transparency and legislative certainty is needed for the benefit of both voters and candidates".She added that oversight of the online environment is fragmented between institutions, leading to "fragmented responses and limited transparency".In his turn, ODIHR Head of Mission Eoghan Murphy said their role is not "to police the online environment, nor to count fake content or cases of coordinated manipulation", but to see "whether authorities are prepared and able to detect and react to such activities".He recalled that during the campaign period, more than 450 online accounts were flagged by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) and 240 by the National Communications Administration and Regulation Authority (ANCOM), while the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) notified the Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP) of about 200 accounts with false information.The expert noted that "a lack of consistency of decisions and lack of information in handling these cases has led to confusion among candidates and supporters about what is allowed and what is not allowed".In this regard, Murphy pointed out, there is limited information on what platforms have done in cases of false information. Moreover, some of these deleted messages have reappeared online.In the case of Romania, he said, there have been online attempts to influence the views of some posts, the use of bots, troll farms and AI-generated material to amplify or suppress the candidates' content."The authorities have made efforts to bring improvements in the field, but we have noticed that the reaction has been fragmented and not transparent. For example, we have seen a statement from ANCOM, one from MAI, another from BEC about accounts targeted for inauthentic content or other reasons. We don't know if these are the same accounts, we don't know what is behind these accounts and we don't know if they have been closed," the expert detailed.The OSCE representative said that "the authorities have the final say on whether there has been foreign interference" (in the presidential elections, editor's note).As for the journalistic coverage of the elections, Murphy noted that "the intense and non-transparent funding of some media by political parties undermines the pluralistic nature of the field"."We don't think the public knew which media messages were paid for and which were not on private television. It is a condition for informed elections," he added.The OSCE mission will remain in Romania until May 25 and will publish a final report after the second round of the presidential elections, with possible recommendations for the Romanian authorities.