Referendum for Bucharest
The citizens of Bucharest voted on Sunday both in the presidential election and in a referendum called by the general mayor, Nicușor Dan.
Leyla Cheamil, 26.11.2024, 13:50
On November 24, on the day of the first round of the presidential election in Romania, the citizens of Bucharest were called to the polls also in a referendum initiated by the general mayor Nicuşor Dan. Those registered on the electoral lists had to answer two questions proposed by the mayor and a third one proposed by the Social Democratic Party – PSD (in the governing coalition). The first question was whether the citizens agree with the general mayor of Bucharest issuing the construction permits for the entire city of Bucharest, the second asked the citizens if the distribution of income taxes and local taxes and fees collected from the citizens of Bucharest should be approved by the General Council of the City of Bucharest? And the last question was whether the people of Bucharest want the municipality to deal with the prevention of drug use in schools. According to the data provided by the Permanent Electoral Authority, 731,990 citizens voted in the referendum, i.e. 40.96% of the number of those registered on the electoral lists. The referendum therefore passed the validation threshold of 30% and obtained a majority vote in favor of the three proposals.
According to the CURS survey, 97% of the voters said YES for the centralization of building permits in Bucharest, 64% agreed with the second question and 82% voted for the program to prevent the consumption of drugs in schools. The vote must be confirmed by Parliament. “I want to thank the citizens of Bucharest who came in such large numbers to the referendum, I thank them for understanding the huge stakes for the city of this democratic exercise”, the general mayor Nicușor Dan stated, in a press conference. He said that, through their will, the city is returning to normality and reason, which was corrupted by the political games made 20 years ago, which led to chaos in town planning.
At the same time, the general mayor warned the citizens of Bucharest that the big works that the city needs require time for administrative procedures. The general mayor, Nicușor Dan, also stated, after finding the results, that the political parties cannot ignore the will of 500,000 Bucharest residents and asked for their will to be transposed into legislation: “In the debate that we will have in a few weeks on the national budget law, the result of the referendum should be included. In the debate that we will have in the first half of 2025 on the Urban Planning Code, the result of the referendum should also be included, and the Fiscal Code should be amended according to the result of the referendum in the first half of 2025”.
He also added that, after the local referendum, the money will be better distributed, and in terms of urban planning, authorizations will be issued legally. (LS)
