Presidential candidates get all-clear, none found to ever have worked for former political police

The National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives (CNSAS) announced on Friday that none of the 14 candidates running for the office of President of Romania has been a collaborator or worked for the former political police 'Securitate'.

"Based on the Government's Emergency Ordinance No. 24/2008 approved with the subsequent amendments and additions operated under Law No. 293/2008, CNSAS has completed the checks on the candidates in the November 2014 presidential elections. We hereby state that no data or information has emerged to prove any of them has been a Securitate collaborator or worker for the said structure, for the purposes of the law," reads a statement published on the CNSAS website.

The following contenders are in the race for President: current Prime Minister Victor Ponta; former Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu; Sibiu Mayor Klaus Iohannis; former ministers Elena Udrea, Monica Macovei and Kelemen Hunor; former Secretary of State Mirel Mircea Amaritei; former head of the Foreign Intelligence Service Teodor Melescanu; former MPs William Brinza, Gheorghe Funar and Zsolt Szilagyi; former MEP Corneliu Vadim Tudor; journalist Dan Diaconescu; and chairman of the Socialist Alliance Party Constantin Rotaru. AGERPRES