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The USR PLUS (Save Romania Union - Freedom, Unity, Solidarity Party) Alliance announces that it filed a criminal complaint on Tuesday, signed by co-chairmen Dacian Ciolos and Dan Barna, for fraud and impeding the exercise of electoral rights, according to AGERPRES.
"We are taking this step after receiving credible notifications from citizens who were contacted by telephone in the guise of an opinion poll that was in fact an electoral manipulation action with false statements about USR PLUS projects and plans in Parliament. The false opinion poll has a dedicated call centre and uses the false name of "Socio-Political Association" in its discussions with the citizens, and we have identified the widespread use of this banned political marketing technique - push poll - by which an electoral candidate tries to change voting options by manipulation, by launching unconfirmed rumors and false news in order to change the electoral options through manipulation," reads the USR PLUS press release.
The alliance is urging the authorities to intervene "quickly and unequivocally" to identify those who are "attempting a large-scale electoral fraud" and to hold those responsible accountable.
"The USR PLUS alliance draws citizens' attention to the fact that such a manipulation operation is in full swing and continues a series of manipulative campaigns led by representatives of the older parties that we have seen in previous USR PLUS election campaigns," it is also shown in the same press release.
Actress Medeea Marinescu specified, on Monday, in a post on Facebook, that she was contacted from an unknown telephone number, by a person who claimed to represent a socio-political association and that she was conducting an opinion poll related to the elections. One of the questions was: "What do you think about the law proposed in Parliament by USR-PLUS to authorize the cutting of protected forests?." Medea Marinescu mentions that when she asked the appellant for details about the law, he could not provide them.
Later, in a post on the same social network, Dacian Ciolos announced that USR PLUS would take legal steps to stop the "lying machine," while directly referring to the aspect reported by Medeea Marinescu.
