A civic platform, the ‘Romania Initiative‘, on Monday filed criminal complaints at the National Anti-corruption Directorate against several candidates for the Bucharest city hall on the ground that part of the signatures raised for their campaign are fake.
According to the complaint filed at the National Anti-corruption Directorate, the Social Democrat Party (PSD) raised signatures for its candidates, including for Gabriela Firea, without too much public exposure, although “around 80,000 signatures are needed for a party filing the candidates’ lists for city halls and local councils.”
The ‘Romania Initiative’ accuses PSD that has access and uses for personal purpose the voters’ personal information, arguing that it’s a fact also confirmed by the latest sentence ruled in the Referendum case, where PSD chairman Liviu Dragnea got two years on probation.
The NGO also notes that the National Liberal Party (PNL) had to raise a minimum of 22,000 signatures for Catalin Predoiu and Cristina Pocora, meaning that “they raised at least 7,334 signatures per day, almost 1,000 signatures per hour during the weekend, 16 signatures per minute, using the generous presumption that the campaign staff would have worked 8 hours per day unbrokenly.”
Predoiu running for the Bucharest City Hall and Pocora running for the District 3 are expected to officially join the race on April 26.
The association also accuses Cristian Popescu Piedone that he has used personal data and signatures of some children to complete his lists.
“After the Bucharest Tribunal rejected his candidature, Cristian Popescu Piedone file a new set of other 5,600 signatures, meaning that the party that endorses him raised 1,867 signatures per day, 234 signatures per hour, considering that the Humanist Power Party is a very small party, lacking significant resources,” the NGO argues.
The association also denounces that Robert Turcescu endorsed by Traian Basescu’s People’s Movement Party seems to hold the signatures’ record: 1,125 signatures per hour during weekends, 19 minutes per minute.
“In order for Mr. Turcescu to be able to run, PMP has to raise a minimum of 18,000 signatures. In other words, PMP raised at least 9,000 signatures per day (…),” reads the association’s argument.