The Romanian constitutional court on Tuesday upheld a ban preventing the far-right candidate Călin Georgescu from participating in the country’s presidential election. The ruling, which is final, backed a decision by Romania’s electoral authority on Sunday to throw out Georgescu’s bid to run in May’s vote after he allegedly breached election rules.

The Romanian Central Election Bureau rejected the candidacy of the far-right, pro-Russian Călin Georgescu in the presidential election on Saturday, his spokesperson reported on Sunday. Georgescu's supporters tried to break through the police line and storm the commission building.

Romania declared on Wednesday that Russia has “no right to lecture on democracy” after the Kremlin accused Bucharest of disregarding democratic norms by barring a pro-Moscow candidate from standing in a presidential election re-run.