In an opinion on its ruling published on Monday, the constitutional court said that Diana Șoșoacă’s hardline oratory, which often mixes anti-NATO and anti-EU rhetoric with pro-Russia sentiment, undermined the Romanian constitution and the country’s EU membership.

“Her public speeches advocate for the removal of Romania’s fundamental state values, including EU and NATO membership, which makes her unfit to take the presidential oath,” the court’s majority opinion said.

The removal of Șoșoacă, an MEP, triggered a vitriolic response from the politician herself, in keeping with her reputation as perhaps the most controversial and outspoken politician in Romania.

But the decision also sent ripples through Romanian politics owing to doubts over its constitutionality.

Șoșoacă’s defenders, many of whom stand in steadfast opposition to her politics, questioned the ruling, pointing out that she leads a legal party, SOS, and has never been convicted of a crime.

Marcel Ciolacu, Romania’s prime minister and head of the Social Democratic Party, who also intends to run for the presidency, wrote on social media that the ruling had raised the “need for a serious discussion within society about the necessity of a major reform of the Constitutional Court.”

He added that the court denies people the “right to a defense and an appeal.”

Laura Iuliana Scantei, one of the court’s dissenting judges, criticized the tribunal’s decision, saying it was not founded in law.

“There is no constitutional or legal basis for the court to introduce subjective criteria for candidacies that are not explicitly stated in the law,” Scantei wrote in her dissenting opinion.

Oana Popescu-Zamfir, the director of the GlobalFocus Center, a Romania-based political think tank, also said that the court’s decision had no legal foundation.

“It is not as if Șoșoacă has broken the law,” she told TVP World. “The law allows her to say what she wants. She has never been convicted of anything and she has never been found legally responsible for anything.

“She’s free to have an opinion about the EU. Banning her is like banning somebody in Britain for talking about Brexit,” she added.

The furor around Șoșoacă’s expulsion and the resulting speculation and conspiracy theories about what lay behind it and just who might profit, has added extra spice to Romanian politics as the country trundles towards an intense period of political activity.

The first round of the presidential election will take place on November 24, with a run-off vote due on December 8, if no-one gets a clear majority in round one.

Sandwiched between the two votes are parliamentary elections, due to be held on December 1.