Romanian Parliament greenlights committee to investigate 2009 elections

Romania’s Parliament approved yesterday with a large majority of votes the proposal to set up a special inquiry committee that will investigate how the 2009 presidential elections were organized and held. The committee is made of 15 members and will be headed by Mihai Fifor from the Social Democratic Party (PSD). Traian Basescu, who won the presidential elections in 2009 defeating his rival Mircea Geoana, said that he hoped that the committee would not reach the conclusion that Mircea Geoana should be the president. “You would embarrass Mr. Iohannis (e.n. current president) who should go to Sibiu until he (Geoana) finished this mandate," Basescu added. At the end of April, Romania’s General Prosecutor’s office announced its decision to open an investigation into the 2009 presidential elections. Prosecutors will be investigating possible acts of abuse of office and forging public documents and election data. The General Prosecutor’s office decided to start this investigation after local journalist Dan Andronic, who worked as a campaign consultant to former President Traian Basescu in those elections, said he attended a meeting on the elections night at the home of former interior minister Gabriel Oprea. Andronic’s revelations determined the heads of the Parliament’s two chambers, PSD’s Liviu Dragnea, and ALDE’s Calin Popescu Tariceanu, to ask for a parliamentary investigation into the 2009 elections. editor@romania-insider.com