Romania is bracing for EU Parliamentary Elections and for a referendum
Romanians are expected to the polls on Sunday to designate their candidates in the European Parliament and have their say in a referendum on justice issues
Corina Cristea, 24.05.2019, 13:58
Almost 19 million eligible voters are
expected to cast their ballot on Sunday to designate Romania’s 33
representatives in the European Parliament and also to have their say in a
national referendum called by the country’s president on justice issues. The voters
will get three ballots, one for the European Parliament candidates and another
two for the referendum questions.
Voters are requested to say ‘yes’
or ‘no’ on the following questions: ‘Do you agree that amnesty and pardoning on
graft accusations must be banned? Must the government be banned from endorsing emergency
ordinances aimed at pardoning crimes, indictments or getting involved in
organizing the judiciary?
The turnout will be registered on
two distinct election tickets for the two types of voting. Under the law, the
referendum gets validated in case of a 30% turnout. The referendum’s outcome also
gets validation if the option expressed represents at least 25% of those
enlisted on permanent election tickets.
13 political groups are vying for a
seat in the European Parliament, the PSD, the 2020 USR PLUS Alliance, the Pro
Romania Party, UDMR, the National Liberal Party, ALDE, PRODEMO Party, PMP, the
Romanian Socialist Party, the Independent Social Democratic Party, the United
Romania Party, UNPR and the National Unity Bloc. Three independent candidates, Gregoriana
Carmen Tudoran, George Nicolae Simion and Peter Costea have also joined the
election race. 18,730 polling stations have been set up all over the country
and 441 abroad.
The Romanian Foreign Ministry has
sent more than four million ballots to all the polling stations abroad. Voters
who aren’t in their places of residence on election day can cast their vote in
any constituency after having enlisted themselves on additional election lists.
EU citizens who have enlisted on special lists can also cast their ballots in
the European Parliament elections.
(translated by bill)
