UPDATE: Former Social Democrat Sorin Oprescu fails in challenging Electoral Office decision that prevents him from running in elections

Former Social Democratic Party member, now an independent, Sorin Oprescu has challenged in court on Thursday a decision of the Electoral Office to reject his candidacy for Bucharest Mayor for not having enough valid signatures of support. Oprescu declared that it was his legal right to challenge the decision since justice must be made.

UPDATE: After hours of debate, a Bucharest court decided to reject Oprescu’s challenge.

The challenge, which followed an Office decision in this regard on Wednesday, is discussed on Thursday and Oprescu said he was confident that the result would be in his favor. Oprescu added that he did not consider himself a victim but that he truly wished to take part in this political battle.

Oprescu announced last week that he would run for the Bucharest Mayor seat as an independent in local elections after his party, the Social Democrats endorsed another candidate for the June local elections in the person of Cristian Diaconescu.