May 4, 2025
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 04.05.2025, 13:59
ELECTION 18 million people are expected to the polls in Romania today to vote for their president, the one who will be heading the country for the next five years. Polling stations opened today at 7 hours local time with 11 candidates vying for the presidential seat, four independents and seven representatives of various political parties. According to the Permanent Election Authority (AEP) nearly 19 thousand polling stations have been opened on the Romanian territory, out of which 13 thousand in Bucharest alone. The Romanians in the Diaspora have been given three days to cast their ballots in the existing 965 stations where voting abroad kicked off on Friday. The largest number of stations is located in Italy and Malta, 161, next comes Spain with 147, Great Britain, 108, France and the Principality of Monaco, 69, the Republic of Moldova, 64, the USA 50, Belgium, 29 and the Netherlands, 23. The AEP has issued 299 accreditations for observing institutions, which will this time include OSCE observers as a first. The OSCE observers will be monitoring the election upon a request from the Romanian government. We recall the first round of voting held in December last year was cancelled by the Constitutional Court, which based its ruling on documents provided by the country’s Higher Defence Council, which mentioned foreign interferences in the election process.
VOTE Romanians have turned out in large numbers to cast their ballots in the first round of Romania’s presidential election today; over 7 million voted until 18 hours, which accounts for 43% of the total number of voters on constituency lists, says the latest data released by the Permanent Election Authority (AEP). Roughly 850 thousand individuals cast their ballots abroad until that hour. Most of the votes have been registered in Italy, Britain, Germany, Spain and France. After casting his ballot, Romania’s interim president, Ilie Bolojan, talked about the importance of the presidential election for Romania. He recalled that internally, the head of state will have to collaborate with the Parliament majority and government to reform the state and create development opportunities for the Romanians. At the same time, Bolojan went on to say, the country’s president is going to provide the major directions of Romania’s foreign and defence policies, as the country’s security depends on that. Bolojan has urged the Romanians to go to the polls irrespective of their political preferences. “The Romanians are going to do their best in this election round, and I am glad we are having such a good number of voters in the Diaspora and I am firmly convinced this number will be even greater with the voters here in Romania,” the country’s Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, says while leaving a polling station.
OBSERVER Romania has met all the democratic standards to be able to stage the present presidential election, the country’s Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, said on Saturday during the talks he held with the Vice-Chairman of the US Federal Election Commission, James Trainor. “The government has nothing to do with the way in which the people’s vote is expressed, but it is strictly involved in organizational issues both in Romania and abroad,” the Prime Minister went on to say. He underlined his vehement opposition to any initiative aimed at limiting, censoring or closing down any social platforms during the election campaign. “Romania is a friend and a trustworthy ally of the United States. We are going to work together so that the Romanians may trust the election process”, says the US official. James Trainor is heading a US delegation of observers which is monitoring the presidential election underway in Romania.
(bill)
