“May the Force be with us!’’
Like most former Soviet bloc nations, Romania is used to rough and tumble politics and the first claims and counterclaims after Basescu’s narrow Dec. 6 runoff victory were nothing out of the ordinary, with Geoana’s people complaining of massive fraud.
Then came the startling allegation: Geoana, in media interviews last week, asserted that he was targeted by waves of negative energy during a key debate just before the runoff that was won by Basescu.
“People who were working for Basescu in this domain were present to the right of the camera,’’ Geoana told Antena 3 Television. His wife, Mihaela said Geoana “was very badly attacked, he couldn’t concentrate.’’
At first Romanians mocked their former foreign minister saying he was a bad loser. Basescu himself jokingly dismissed the allegations. But the recent publication of photos showing well-known parapsychologist Aliodor Manolea close to Basescu during the campaign has caused Romanians to wonder whether the president really did put a hex on his rival.
The photos show Manolea, a slightly built, bearded man with a round face and cropped receding hair, walking yards behind Basescu ahead of the debate. Manolea’s specialties include deep mind control, clairvoyance, and hypnotic trance, according to the Romanian Association of Transpersonal Psychology.
For weeks, Basescu’s office declined to comment on Manolea, with officials referring inquiries to the Liberal Democratic Party that supported the president. Officials there gave evasive answers, but not outright denials.
In comments published Friday, Basescu spokesman Sever Voinescu said he knew Manolea but that the parapschycologist did not take part in campaign staff meetings. Voinescu also said he did not discuss Manolea with Basescu.
Manolea’s alleged role in the elections evokes age-old Balkan rituals in which the evil eye, witch doctors and other mysterious forces were used to launch mystic energy attacks on opponents and sap hapless victims of their vital strength.
