Investigation into Voting Abroad
The National Anti-Corruption Directorate has taken over the investigation of voting abroad in the latest presidential elections in Romania.
România Internațional, 05.12.2014, 13:53
The Social Democrats say they want to see through their term in order to honor the votes that millions of Romanians granted them at the elections in 2012. The opposition calls on them to resign, and for Victor Ponta to step down as a PM for the way in which the presidential elections took place in the diaspora. President Traian Basescu did the same:
“There is no other country in the EU in which, if things went as they did in the first and second round of elections, on 2nd and 16th of November, the Prime Minister would not resign. In our country, Mr. Ponta believes he is entitled to staying in his position. I call on Victor Ponta to understand that he, at this moment, is weighing Romania down.”
The explanation provided by critics is simple. Romanians abroad, who are well known to have rightist leanings, could have ruined the prime minister’s plans to be head of state. By holding defective elections abroad, Victor Ponta’s team wanted to avoid that. However, Ponta lost the election, as the diaspora overwhelmingly voted with the Liberal candidate, Klaus Iohannis. A freshly dismissed member of the Social Democratic Party, Mircea Geoana, commented:
“The politicians who bear the moral responsibility are candidate Ponta and his close associates, who made the decisions that led to the catastrophic defeat suffered by the Social Democratic Party.”
Within two weeks, two foreign ministers resigned, Titus Corlatean and Teodor Melescanu, but that did not seem to matter much. A number of Romanians who spent hours lining up for voting abroad, often not managing, have filed court cases. Initially the case went to the General Prosecutor’s Office, but then got taken over by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, since it was established that the accusations may fall under the legislation covering corruption. Meanwhile, members of Parliament in Bucharest claim they want to find ways to never have the situation repeated. Here is MP Eugen Tomac:
“We can no longer divide Romania into the Romania inside and outside the borders. We are talking about the Romanians who live in the EU. Be it in London or Cluj, people have the same rights as all citizens. Which is why I believe that the safest solution would be absentee voting.”
Victor Ponta admits that there was a political price to pay for what happened, adding among his proposals the introduction of the electronic vote, and the designation of an institution outside the Foreign Ministry to deal with the technical organization of voting abroad.
