Radio România Internațional

Tag: polling

  • September 15, 2020

    September 15, 2020

    ALERT The government in Bucharest has today
    endorsed a decision on extending the state of alert for Romania with another 30
    days beginning on Tuesday. The document stipulates a series of measures
    regulating the ongoing local election campaign and the voting procedures, at
    the same time limiting meetings and demonstrations to 100 people with the
    observance of safety rules and regulations. Voters must use disinfectants while
    entering and exiting poling stations. A mobile polling station will be made
    available first for the healthy but non-transportable persons and then for
    those in isolation and quarantine.








    UNDERGROUND A metro section linking the west of
    Bucharest to its centre was inaugurated on Tuesday. Authorities have given
    assurances that systems are functional to offer safe and comfortable transport.
    This 7 kilometer underground section is the first to have been built from
    scratch since the demise of the communist regime in Romania thirty years ago.
    The section, which should have been ready five years ago and has a total value
    of 0.7 billion Euros, has become part of Bucharest underground network of 78
    kilometres and 63 stations.








    EDUCATION School started in Romania on Monday for
    roughly 3 million students. 12, 500 schools have opened their gates while 5
    thousand others are also offering alternative online course. Against the background
    of the Covid-19 pandemic, more than half of the parents in Romania’s urban
    areas want their children to go to school, shows a recent poll conducted in several
    cities across the country. At the same time 61% of the interviewees believe that
    schools presently cannot offer education in safe conditions while 66% believe
    that students must wear face masks in classrooms.






    CONTEST A series of 55 mini-recitals held by pianists from all over the
    world has today ended as part of the George Enescu International Classical
    Music Contest. The event has been made available at www.festivalenescu.ro and the jury is
    expected to announce the winners on Wednesday. Only 12 out of the total 55
    participants will make it to the competition’s next stage. The most important
    international cultural event, the George Enescu Festival has four contest
    sections, piano, cello, violin and composition and comes fifth in a world
    ranking of classical music contests.








    COVID-19 According to worldometers.info
    the confirmed Covid-19 infections continue to be on the rise at a world level.
    The total number of infections worldwide has reached 29.4 million with a death
    toll of 932 thousand. The most affected countries are the USA, India, Brazil,
    Russia, Peru, Columbia, Mexico, South Africa, Spain and Argentina. The most
    affected African countries are South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Ethiopia and
    Nigeria while in Europe the most affected are Russia, Spain, France, the UK,
    Turkey, Italy, Germany, Ukraine, Romania, Belgium and Sweden. According to the World
    Health Organisation the situation is going to worsen and the death toll is
    expected to increase in October and November.




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  • Preparations for voting abroad

    Preparations for voting abroad

    The presidential election is drawing close, and the Romanians living abroad only have a few days left to announce how they intend to vote. Extended on Thursday by the Government, under an emergency order, the new deadline is September 15. By filling in an online form on www.votstrainatate.ro, prospective voters can choose between postal voting and voting in person at a polling station set up abroad.



    Those who choose postal voting must submit a scanned copy of their identity document and of the residence permit issued by the host country. For polling station voting, applicants must fill in an online form specifying their name, personal identification code, the locality and country where they intend to vote, and attach a scan or photo of their ID.



    A polling station can be set up abroad if at least 100 people from the same locality or area request it. After they have registered on this platform, the respective Romanian citizens will be removed from the permanent voter lists in Romania and included in the permanent voter list abroad.



    The head of the Permanent Electoral Authority of Romania, Constantin Mituleţu-Buicǎ, promised that the data collected from the Romanian citizens living abroad will not be used by the tax authorities, a concern that has allegedly prompted many Romanians to prefer voting in polling stations and that consequently makes the election process more difficult:



    Constantin Mituleţu-Buicǎ: “The data gathered during the previous election, the one for the European Parliament, indicate that nearly 400,000 Romanians voted abroad. We have not disclosed and will not disclose personal data to the authorities, except for the purpose of the election process or if required in administrative or criminal investigations, but never will we provide such data to the fiscal authorities for taxation purposes or for identifying where certain citizens live and have voted.



    The first round of the presidential election is due on November 10, and the runoff is scheduled on November 24. The Romanians who live abroad will be able to vote by post during a 3-day period. Romanian diplomatic missions may already request the Foreign Ministry the setup of polling stations abroad, a process due to conclude on October 19.



    Although there are millions of Romanian nationals who live outside the country, by Friday morning only 73,000 people had registered for postal voting and for voting at a polling station abroad, which makes commentators expect unnerving queues in this election as well.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • Diaspora voting problems, once again

    Diaspora voting problems, once again

    The Foreign Ministrys head office in Bucharest was picketed on Monday night, with protesters demanding Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanus resignation after large numbers of Romanians living abroad were unable to cast their votes in Sundays EP elections and referendum on the judiciary. Concurrently, an online petition asking the Foreign Minister to step down had already been signed by tens of thousands of people the first day after its launch.



    Thousands of people were unable to exercise their constitutional right to vote on Sunday because of the poor organisation, although the number of polling stations set up abroad had been almost doubled. But the procedure was cumbersome, and simple math says more voting booths, more stamps, more employees were necessary for all interested voters to be able to cast their ballots. Critics recalled that the same happened in the 2014 presidential election, and the end of which the Foreign Minister, the same Teodor Melescanu, actually resigned.



    This time around, he merely apologised to the Romanians in the diaspora who had to queue for hours before they could vote. Or before they couldnt—because some polling stations closed at the set deadline in spite of the requests to extend voting hours coming from citizens, from the Opposition parties and from the President of the country.



    The day after the election, President Klaus Iohannis spoke about the situation in the diaspora:



    Klaus Iohannis: “It is unacceptable for the authorities to scorn the Romanians in the diaspora. Romanians were once again subjected to humiliation by a government who fails to understand that its role is to serve citizens and not to work against them. Given the very serious problems of 2014, which regretfully resurfaced yesterday, I call on the relevant authorities to take immediate measures to make sure that the Romanians living abroad are able to cast their ballots in normal circumstances, without queuing for long hours only to exercise their constitutional right to vote.



    Teodor Melescanu admitted that the voting unfolded in a less than satisfactory manner in several countries, and announced that he ordered an investigation and requested the drafting of a bill for a voting system adapted to the needs of the diaspora.



    In Brussels, the European Commission said member states must make sure that all citizens can exercise their right to vote, and added that it will draw up a report closely examining how the elections took place in all member countries.



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)