Radio România Internațional

Tag: timetable

  • January 13, 2025

    January 13, 2025

    Election – The Romanian government will officially set the date of the presidential election this week, after the leaders of the governing coalition (PSD-PNL-UDMR) decided, on Wednesday, at the first meeting of 2025, that the presidential election should take place on May 4th and 18th. A large protest was organized on Sunday, in Bucharest, by the opposition Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), where people requested the resumption of the second round of the presidential election and the resignation of President Klaus Iohannis. The leader of AUR, George Simion, announced that the protests would continue. The Constitutional Court canceled last year’s presidential election on the grounds that the entire electoral process was flawed.

     

    Culture Day – As every year on January 15, Romania will mark the National Culture Day on Wednesday. This is also celebrated in the Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova, as well as in the diaspora, in the context of celebrating in 2025 175 years since the birth of Mihai Eminescu, considered the greatest Romanian poet. Cultural and educational institutions, NGOs and authorities have prepared events in different more or less conventional spaces to bring culture closer to the public. Among other things, on Tuesday evening, a National Culture Awards Gala will be organized in Botoşani (north-east), during which prizes will be awarded for excellence in culture, for the promotion of Eminescu’s work and of Romanian culture in general or for the development of Romanian literary studies internationally.

     

    Tennis – The Romanian tennis player Jaqueline Cristian obtained a difficult victory, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 against the Croatian Petra Martic, on Monday, in Melbourne, in the first round of the Australian Open tournament, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. Also on Monday, in Melbourne, the Romanian Sorana Cîrstea was defeated by the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-4. Svitolina has defeated Cîrstea in all four straight games so far. Anca Todoni, coming from the qualifications, also lost in the first round, on Sunday, against the Chinese Qinwen Zheng. Tuesday will see the match between the last Romanians from the main singles draw, Irina Begu and Gabriela Ruse, who will play against each other.

     

    Visa waiver – Romanian citizens will be able to travel to the United States, after March 31, through a simplified procedure, after the American authorities granted Romania the status of a country participating in the Visa Waiver Program. According to a press release from the Romanian embassy in Washington, Romanians will be able to go to the USA based on an electronic authorization called ESTA, this being applied to all trips for tourist or business purposes whose duration does not exceed 90 days. The authorization will be valid for two years, with unlimited entries or exits from the US. To participate in the Visa Waiver Program, a country must meet requirements related to counterterrorism, immigration enforcement, document security and border management. The requirements also include a visa refusal rate of less than 3%.

     

    Croatia – The acting president of Croatia, Zoran Milanovic, won with a crushing score the decisive round of the presidential election on Sunday for a new 5-year mandate at the helm of the country. A socialist with populist views, Milanovici is credited with over 74% of the votes in front of his opponent supported by the conservative right-wing Government. Unlike the Executive, he criticized the military aid provided by the West to Kyiv, which made him be labelled as a pro-Russian, which destroys the country’s credibility within NATO and the European Union. The press agencies also note that the presidential election in Croatia took place in the context in which this country with less than 4 million inhabitants is facing the highest inflation rate in the Eurozone, endemic corruption and an acute lack of work force.

     

    Fires – A total of 24 people have died due to the California wildfires, according to an updated death toll. Residents evacuated because of the fires are flocking to checkpoints set up by law enforcement, hoping that they can recover belongings from their homes or simply to see if the houses still exist. Firefighters estimate that people will not be able to return home before Thursday, so they were promised that a system will be put into operation to check the condition of the homes online. Many areas look like after a bombardment, the international press reports and the power lines and gas pipelines still represent a major danger. (LS)

  • Parliamentary elections timetable

    Parliamentary elections timetable

    The election marathon in Romania started on June 9, when the citizens decided who would represent them in the European Parliament and who would lead, in the next 4 years, the town halls and the local and county councils. After the European Parliament and local elections in mid-2024, the end of the year will bring the two main electoral competitions, the presidential and parliamentary elections. The parliamentary elections will take place on December 1, on the very National Day, and will be framed by the two rounds of the presidential election. On Wednesday, the executive, which is responsible for organizing the elections, set the timetable for the December 1 parliamentary elections.

     

    The election campaign will start a month earlier, on November 1, and will end on November 30, at 7:00 am. Romanians in the country will vote between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. For the Romanian citizens in the Diaspora, the voting will start on November 30, at 7:00 a.m. and will end on December 1, at 9:00 p.m., so they will have two days to express their options. The deadline for submitting to the Central Electoral Bureau the protocol for establishing an electoral alliance is September 10. September 16 is the deadline by which voters with their domicile in the country and with the residence abroad, as well as those with their domicile abroad, can register in the Electoral Register, with their address from abroad, for the option of voting in a polling station.

     

    By October 2, the lists of candidates and independent candidacies for the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies will be submitted to the electoral constituency for the Romanian citizens with their domicile or residence outside the country. By the same date the lists of candidates of the organizations of citizens belonging to national minorities will be submitted for all electoral constituencies. On the other hand, October 17 is the date by which voters with their domicile in the country and with the residence abroad, as well as those with their domicile abroad can register in the Electoral Register with the address from abroad with the option of postal voting and online on the website votStrainatate.ro.

     

    Also by October 17, political parties, political alliances, electoral alliances or organizations of citizens belonging to national minorities can submit their lists of candidates and independent candidacies to the country’s electoral constituencies. October 22 is the deadline for establishing and submitting electoral signs to the Central Electoral Bureau. Establishing the air time for the candidates to the parliamentary elections will be done by October 31. We remind you that, in June, the Social Democratic Party – PSD won the most town halls and county and local councils, and the social democrats and their governing partners, the liberals, obtained more than half of the MEP seats. (LS)