A few days before the elections, a mysterious document appears in the public space, undated, attributed to the Bucharest Municipality Security and describing the relationships between International Math Olympians from the summer of 1988, before leaving for Canberra, Australia, for the final stage of the competition.
Several researchers and historians, specialized in the activity of communist security, have stated that the document is fake.
Main arguments:
- Diacritics were used in typewritten reports and notes;
- The document is undated;
- Usage of expressions not found in the vocabulary of the authorities at that time: recruitment efforts, character profiles;
- The way the document is archived;
- The officer's signatures;
A scientific expertise of the document cannot be performed before Sunday's elections, and the opinions expressed by specialists come after a preliminary analysis of the document.
Its source is PSD, being distributed on the Realitatea Plus and Solidnews.ro websites, owned by Cozmin Gușă, one of the most important supporters of Russia's politics in Romania.
The Falsehood, a Challenging Political Burden
Nicușor Dan leads in all opinion polls, and the electoral race in Bucharest was heading straight without Gabriela Firea, the PSD representative, having the necessary support to defeat the incumbent mayor.
The publication of such a document where the current mayor is accused of ties with the Security suggests a certain urgency in the party's campaign led by Marcel Ciolacu.
Such a strategy is risky, as it could provoke anger among voters, polarization, which could have consequences even after Sunday's elections.
In the context where PSD has two more campaigns, one for the presidential elections and one for the parliamentary ones, the stigma of being a document forger of the Security could be a burden.
"Regarding the document... that began to circulate in the press, I make the following clarifications: I left Romania three times before 1989: at the Mathematics Balkan Olympiad in 1987 (Greece) and at the International Mathematics Olympiads in 1987 (Cuba) and 1988 (Australia); in my relationship with the state authorities at that time, I only had those mandatory interactions, according to the legislation of those years for all Romanians traveling abroad," stated Nicușor Dan, the incumbent mayor of Bucharest.
He also mentioned that "I did not have any commitment to collaborate with the Security, with CNSAS issuing two certificates to this effect, in 2012 and 2017."
After 15 Years
His statement was criticized in several posts on social networks because it was uncertain, lacking context and additional details.
From this, it was speculated that there might have been more complicated relations between Nicușor Dan and the Security, although the mathematician was only 17 at that time.
The episode with this document is reminiscent of the one orchestrated in 2009 by people under the umbrella of PSD, Mircea Geoană's campaign team, and the moguls' alliance at that time - Patriciu, Vântu, Voiculescu, who created the "fake clip - Băsescu hits a child."
VIDEO. The clip from 2009 was heavily broadcasted on television and the Internet, a few days before the presidential elections at that time. With detachment now, the gross manipulation of the image is easily observed, changing the color of the child's face, and Băsescu's hand unnaturally elongating - Source: YouTube/ Otovideomaster
For those who do not remember, through quite a gross editing of a video recording from a campaign event, a hand gesture of former President Băsescu is transformed into a punch on a nearby child.
The recording was made on November 26, 2009, and the second round of elections took place 10 days later, on December 6, planned to create a crisis in Băsescu's campaign a few days before the vote.
15 years after that event, it can be said that the effect was contrary to the expectations of those who fabricated it, generating even greater polarization, although the incumbent president was losing popularity, that episode actually relaunched his campaign.
Polls as a Political Weapon
This time, in Bucharest, it is not even a close race, as it was back then between Băsescu and Geoană.
Nicușor Dan has authoritatively dominated his opponents and has strongly benefited from the advantage given by the fact that local elections are held in a single round of voting, with the incumbent mayor starting as a major favorite.
If the publication of the presumed fake document is not part of a more complex strategy, for example, to provoke a denial reaction from Nicușor Dan, and then to follow up with truly significant revelations, then it will have no effect, and Gabriela Firea will not be able to bridge the gap with the current mayor, which ranges from 3 to 10 percentage points, according to the polls published so far.
Regarding the appearance in the public space of the document entitled <REPORT - regarding the informative classification of citizens traveling to Australia for the International Mathematics Olympiad (July 9-21, 1988), the CNSAS College makes the following clarifications: the mentioned document was not issued by CNSAS, and considering the suspicions regarding the authenticity of the document, the CNSAS College has ordered a prompt verification of all the information contained therein, following the internal procedures
CNSAS, official statement
In the electoral campaign, parties have extensively used polls as a political weapon to create confusion among voters. They have succeeded, but at the cost of compromising sociological studies regarding elections, with all the negative consequences that ensue, including confusion among candidates, campaign teams, and electoral strategists.
On the other hand, the use of polls as propaganda tools shows that there are still no credible public opinion polling centers in society, many of them being financed by political groups, thus tending to bias results towards the clients' interests and to the detriment of the public.
Consequences of a Dirty Game
Nicușor Dan conducted an electoral campaign focused solely on administrative issues, avoiding political stances, even though the vote in Bucharest carries a strong political charge.
If he remains mayor, it is also due to the dissatisfaction towards PSD, but also the issues within the governing coalition.
Moreover, there was no connection between Nicușor Dan's campaign and that of the United Right Alliance, although the current mayor is supported by that political group, and according to his statements, some of the campaign funds come from USR.
I consider that by the massive dissemination on some mass media channels and social networks of this forgery, my image has been severely affected. Although the origin of this document is unknown, its purpose of dissemination is to alter the electoral competition and mislead voters
Nicușor Dan, after filing a criminal complaint following the dissemination of a presumed fake document showing that he collaborated with the Security
In addition to overshadowing the European Parliament elections, the local elections also witnessed an individualistic promotion, focused solely on names, without strategies where candidates appear as part of a team or in relation to specific political programs.
After the elections on June 9, a new stage will begin, and the PSD-PNL alliance will disintegrate regardless of the result in the European Parliament elections.
Depending on the political vote, an anti-PSD coalition may form again in view of the presidential election, but also with the entry of Mircea Geoană into the race, which complicates the situation, especially within the social democrats' camp.