Elon Musk and J.D. Vance ramp up Romanian election dispute

Vance criticises cancellation of Romania election as Musk labels chief judge of top court a ‘tyrant’

Reading Time:2 minutes

Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on February 11. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:11am, 21 Feb 2025Updated: 12:23pm, 21 Feb 2025

US Vice-President J.D. Vance and billionaire Elon Musk on Thursday launched forceful attacks on Romania’s decision to cancel its presidential election in December.

Vance said the cancellation meant Romania does not share American values, while Musk labelled the chief judge of the country’s top court a “tyrant”.

Their remarks were the latest broadsides aimed at Bucharest by members of US President Donald Trump’s administration.

Romania’s Constitutional Court voided the election in December before a second round of voting, after declassified security documents showed suspicions of Russian interference in favour of far-right Nato critic Calin Georgescu, accusations denied by Moscow.

Romanian independent far-right presidential candidate Calin Georgescu. Photo: Reuters

“The point that I try to make to our European friends is … that friendship is based on shared values,” Vance said at the opening of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

“You don’t have shared values if you cancel elections because you don’t like the result, and that happened in Romania. If you’re so afraid of your own people that you silence them and shut them up.”