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----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2004 10:05 PM
Subject: [crp_pntcd] Can Democracy Be Saved in Romania, or Is the
Country Heading towards an Authoritarian System?
Can Democracy Be Saved
in Romania, or Is the Country Heading towards an Authoritarian
System?
View Current Signatures -
Sign the Petition
To: international mass-media, The European
Commision, human rights and democracy organizations, embassies in Romania,
foreign affairs departments of the democratic states
Dear Sirs,
Romania goes through a crisis unprecedented
since the 1989 alleged revolution, all the significant parties of the
opposition rejecting the result of the recent parliamentary and presidential
elections on grounds of massive fraud. There is no doubt about the fraud
itself, but only about its dimensions. The evidence is already overwhelming.
Democrat leader and presidential candidate Traian Basescu, who asked the
cancellation of Sunday's elections because of frauds, said in an interview
with "Evenimentul zilei" that the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) is
trying to justify a fraud of almost 450,000 votes, which had been declared
null, with the support of the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC).
All media
channels were blocked against the announcement of the fact that an electoral
fraud was committed and Traian Basescu was shamelessly attacked by
journalists and analysts.
The Central Electoral Bureau still has to
clearly explain the apparent boost of the support for the leading socialist
party (PSD) between the 12.00 pm and 17.00 pm, on November 28th,
concomitantly with the mathematically impossible decrease of the number of
cancelled votes in the exact same period of time.
Other suspicions are
raised by the BEC�s refuse to allow an independent checking of the computers
and the software, so as to investigate the apparent error. And, instead of
dealing seriously with the grave accusations of the opposition parties, the
BEC�s president criticized Traian Basescu in a politically partisan
declaration that goes against his duty as a judge to remain impartial.
There are overwhelming proofs that numerous citizens had the possibility
to vote several times, because the voters could cast their vote anywhere in
the country, by simply soliciting to be registered on a supplementary list
and more so, the only means to control whether or not one had voted was an
easily detachable stamp glued on the identity card. Tens of buses were
spotted on the elections day carrying voters from one village or town to
another. ONGs as Pro Democratia and other persons have warned about these
problems ever since October 2003, following the numerous abuses occurred
during the Constitution�s revision referendum. Members of the civic
organizations were harassed by the governing party during and after the
elections and were often offered bribe.
The main televisions, be they
public or private, manipulated the voters by omission, uninforming them
about the Pro Democratia Association�s report and its withdrawal from the
process of observing the elections as a desperate warning sign, even though
these events were making headlines in the international press. The
televisions also ignored the subject of the stenograms from the PSD�s
sessions, even though these documents (admitted as real by some PSD high
rank members) refer to the electoral legislation and the state�s
institutions in a manner that may lead to their incorrect functioning.
However, the total subordination of the televisions and of a large number of
newspapers is a long-time issue in Romania, where the opposition barely had
a chance to appear on TV, and then most often among other tendentious
comments.
Months before the elections, the main civic organizations
formed �The Coalition for a Clean Parliament� (CPC), which aimed to bring to
the uninformed voters� knowledge certified facts about the moral profile of
the parliamentary candidates. Hundreds of thousands of fake papers,
allegedly signed by the CPC members were launches in the last two weeks of
the electoral campaign and rumors had it they had been printed in
typographies run by PSD members. The fake papers cut out all the original
information about the numerous PSD members and their electoral allies whose
moral profile was considered not very well suited to a candidate�s, instead
had lots of unverified information about the opposition members. Ms Monica
Macovei, a representative of APADOR-CH (Association for the Defense of Human
Rights in Romania � the Helsinki Committee) said the General Prosecutor�s
Office was informed through a complaint, yet no response has been received
so far. In Ms Monica Macovei�s opinion, this is a sign of the General
Court�s and the General Prosecutor Ilie Botos� lack of independence.
There were lots of other illegal facts during the electoral campaign
that the authorities either disregarded or fully supported:
Original
voting papers appeared in some citizen�s mailboxes weeks before the
elections. In lots of cases, the opposition banners were subject to
destruction, while the ruling party had its banners and posters illegally
posted right near the voting centre. Most important, president Iliescu, a
former communist party member, defied the law when he accepted to
participate in the electoral campaign, even though, according to art. No. 84
in the Romanian Constitution, the president of Romania cannot be a member of
a party, nor can he fulfill any other public or private function. The
ridiculous argument offered was that he joined the PSD members in their
actions �in his spare time�. More so, both president Iliescu and the ruling
party offered food and money to several retirees, despite the fact that
electoral bribery is also illegal in Romania. Useless to say that the police
took for granted president Iliescu�s denial of having bribed the respective
voters and that no investigation ever started.
Romania is very close now
from being ruled by an unrepresentative Parliament. A few years from now,
Romania will join the European Union and will presumably send to the
European Parliament officials who will have reached a leading position by
fraud and constant mass manipulation.
Romania is worth every single
effort aimed to protect and consolidate her democracy. We would have so much
more to offer the world should honesty and fairness be a criterion to accede
power. In a world like yours, where democracy is undoubtedly established, is
has so often turned out that not leading others to freedom and justice is a
sin.
On behalf of all the worried citizens, we are asking and urging you
to support the Romanian civil society and to help us spread the truth about
what is really going on here. We need your support to counteract the efforts
of the Nastase Government to hide all this lies and infringements. We
further need you to support an independent investigation upon the elections
in Romania and not recognize any government resulted from the elections on
November 28th until the results of this investigation are made public.
EuroAtlantic Club: http://www.europe.org.ro/euroatlantic_club/
***
Birou de traduceri autorizate. Oana Gheorghiu - tel/fax: 252.8681 / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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