In 2009, the then president of
\nRomania Traian Basescu surprisingly won the second round of the presidential
\nelections to secure a second term in office. His opponent, who was considered the favourite, was Mircea Geoana,
\nthe leader of the Social Democratic Party at the time. The very small difference of
\njust several thousands votes between the two contenders, the large number of
\nspecial polling stations with a massive turnout and suspicions regarding the
\nway in which voting was carried out in several polling stations abroad fuelled
\nsuspicions that the voting may have been tampered with. However, no wrongdoing
\ncould be proven and the election result was validated, while Traian Basescu
\nremained for another five years in the presidential seat. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The whole controversy is again in the spotlight
\nfollowing the revelations of the journalist Dan Andronic, a former adviser to
\npresident Basescu. Andronic says people heading important state institutions in
\nRomania, such as the head of the National Anticorruption Directorate Codruta
\nKovesi who at the time was Romania’s Prosecutor General, as well as the then
\nhead of the Romanian Intelligence Service George Cristian Maior and his first
\ndeputy Florian Coldea had a meeting on the eve of the second presidential
\nballot, hence the suspicion that they might have become involved in order to
\ninfluence the result of the vote. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Following these statements, the Prosecutor General’s
\nOffice started a prosecution in rem, therefore targeting actions and not
\npeople, for abuse of office and forgery of electoral documents and records.
\nHowever, that was not enough, because the parliamentary majority made up of the
\nSocial Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, which has
\namong its members some of Traian Basescu’s fiercest enemies, have mobilised
\nthemselves and pushed for the creation of a parliamentary commission to
\ninvestigate the 2009 elections. They managed to do that despite opposition from
\nthe National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Liberals’ interim president Raluca Turcan
\nsuspects the Social Democrats of only seeking to bring down the current head of
\nthe National Anticorruption Directorate Codruta Kovesi, who is strongly
\ndisliked by the current power. The Social Democrat MP Eugen Nicolicea, however,
\nhas denied the accusations:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Not only that we make no specific reference to the
\npossibility of investigating prosecutors or magistrates in general, but article
\n3 also clearly states that the offences specified by the Prosecutor General’s
\nOffice are not to be investigated by the parliamentary commission.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Save Romania Union has also voted against the
\ncreation of the special commission, saying that its activity will overlap with
\nthat of the prosecutor’s office. Here is deputy Ion Stelian:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We cannot ignore the fact that the prosecutor’s
\noffice with the High Court of Cassation and Justice has started a judicial
\ninvestigation that targets the exact facts that would make the object of the
\nparliamentary investigation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
It’s unclear what the parliamentary investigation
\ncould prove. In his very particular style, senator Traian Basescu has jokingly
\nthreatened that, if the result of the inquiry establishes that Mircea Geoana
\nshould have been president instead, he will run again, a nightmarish scenario
\nfor many in Romania. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romanias Parliament endorsed the creation of a commission to investigate the 2009 elections in Romania.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":73399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[38945,33932],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-73398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-2009-presidential-elections","tag-inquiry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n