Evenimentul Zilei du 8 juin 2009

Evenimentul Zilei announces the surprise success of the top two candidates on the nationalist list, Corneliu Vadim Tudor and Gigi Becali, with the headline “Buffoons go to Brussels.” The report described as unthinkable the fact that both politicians, who failed to secure seats in the Romanian general elections, should now become MEPs. Tudor, leader of the România Mare party, gained notoriety for his participation in the creation of an extremist group in the European Parliament in 2007. For Becali, owner of football club Steaua Bucharest, election may be a means of avoiding an embarrassing trial for kidnapping. “I prayed when I heard the news,” he told reporters, no doubt thankful for the potential haven offered by MEP immunity. For his part, Tudor believes numerology played a role in his success: “I knew I would win, because we voted on the 7th, we were in 7th position on the ballot, and we got 7.2% of the vote.”