Romanian far-right leader questioned for alleged EU election fraud

A criminal case against “the leader of a parliamentary party” was opened on Wednesday, Romanian prosecutors said in a statement, without naming Simion.

Local media identified the leader as Simion, who reacted furiously to the investigation.

He accused the authorities of having questioned witnesses in this case “totally abusive” and of having tried “to remove the AUR from the electoral competition”.

Far-right parties are expected to gain ground in June 6-9 elections across the 27 EU member states.

The AUR is expected to obtain enough votes to enter the European Parliament, which would be a first for a far-right party in Romania.

The latest poll published on May 28 places the AUR in second place with 17.5 percent of voting intentions for the 33 seats available to Romania.

Simion, a Romanian MP, is accused of having incited “both directly and through intermediaries” around fifty people “to proceed with the falsification of several thousand lists of supporters” to help the independent candidate Silvestru Sosoaca to run in the elections.

The counterfeiters allegedly used the contact details of real people to fill out the supporter lists and forged their signatures.

The prosecutor's press release specifies that the fraud took place in April at the “headquarters of the political party”, without naming the AUR.

Sosoaca's ex-wife, Diana Sosoaca, is also running in the European elections for another party. She was a member of the AUR before falling out with Simion.

Sosoaca is among those questioned over the alleged fraud, Romanian media reported.

bur-jza/bc/rlp