Radio România Internațional

Tag: turnout

  • December 6, 2020 UPDATE

    December 6, 2020 UPDATE

    Elections update — The Social Democratic Party – PSD is likely to have won Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Romania. According to an exit poll from Romania, PSD obtained around 30% of the votes. The National Liberal Party got almost 29% followed by the Alliance Save Romania Union-PLUS (USR-PLUS) with almost 16%. Other parties that might enter Parliament are UDMR — the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, Pro Romania and PMP People’s Movement Party, all credited with 5% of the votes. A surprise in these elections is the possible entry in Parliament of the Alliance for Romanians’ Union AUR. Voter turnout was almost 32%. The PSD president Marcel Ciolacu said that, through Sunday’s vote, Romanians showed that change was needed and sanctioned the way the governing Liberals managed the pandemic. In turn, the PM Ludovic Orban said that the Liberal Party was both the moral and real winner of these elections. His statement is based on the fact that exit polls do not include the votes cast in the Diaspora, let alone the error margin. The result of the parliamentary elections shows that ‘reform in Romania cannot be achieved without the alliance USR-PLUS’ said Sunday evening the alliance co-president Dan Barna. The other co-president Dacian Ciolos said USR-PLUS was ready to start negotiations for setting up the government, but ruled out any collaboration with PSD. In the context of the pandemic, 136 senator and 329 deputy seats were up for election, including 4 deputies and 2 senators representing the Romanian Diaspora. The members of the future Parliament were voted on party lists, based on the proportional representation system.

  • December 6, 2020 UPDATE

    December 6, 2020 UPDATE

    Elections update — The Social Democratic Party – PSD is likely to have won Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Romania. According to an exit poll from Romania, PSD obtained around 30% of the votes. The National Liberal Party got almost 29% followed by the Alliance Save Romania Union-PLUS (USR-PLUS) with almost 16%. Other parties that might enter Parliament are UDMR — the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, Pro Romania and PMP People’s Movement Party, all credited with 5% of the votes. A surprise in these elections is the possible entry in Parliament of the Alliance for Romanians’ Union AUR. Voter turnout was almost 32%. The PSD president Marcel Ciolacu said that, through Sunday’s vote, Romanians showed that change was needed and sanctioned the way the governing Liberals managed the pandemic. In turn, the PM Ludovic Orban said that the Liberal Party was both the moral and real winner of these elections. His statement is based on the fact that exit polls do not include the votes cast in the Diaspora, let alone the error margin. The result of the parliamentary elections shows that ‘reform in Romania cannot be achieved without the alliance USR-PLUS’ said Sunday evening the alliance co-president Dan Barna. The other co-president Dacian Ciolos said USR-PLUS was ready to start negotiations for setting up the government, but ruled out any collaboration with PSD. In the context of the pandemic, 136 senator and 329 deputy seats were up for election, including 4 deputies and 2 senators representing the Romanian Diaspora. The members of the future Parliament were voted on party lists, based on the proportional representation system.

  • November 23, 2019 UPDATE

    November 23, 2019 UPDATE

    ELECTIONS Romania holds the decisive round of its presidential election on Sunday. The incumbent president Klaus Iohannis, endorsed by the National Liberal Party, now in power, is facing the former Social Democratic PM Viorica Dancilă. Just like in the first round, the Romanians living abroad have 3 days to cast their ballots, and the number of pollings stations abroad has been doubled, to 838. The vote started at noon on Friday and will continue until Sunday. The number of citizens having voted so far indicates a higher turnout in the runoff than in the first round. By Saturday evening, over 315,000 Romanians had voted in foreign polling stations, of whom 17,500 voted by post, an option introduced this year for the first time. The largest numbers of voters were reported in Italy, followed by Britain, Germany, Spain and the Republic of Moldova.




    GAUDEAMUS The Gaudeamus International Book Fair, organised in Bucharest by Radio Romania, comes to an end on Sunday. On the last day of the fair, the awards of the 26th edition will be presented. 8,000 book stands have been put up as part of this edition, devoted to the 30 years since the anti-communist revolution of 1989. A total of 900 different events were scheduled, including book launches, debates and book signing sessions. On Saturday, the 4th day of the Fair, Prof. Thierry Wolton took part in the launch of the second volume of his trilogy “A World History of Communism. In this volume, entitled ‘The Victims’, Thierry Wolton speaks about the tens of millions that suffered imprisonment, deportation, torture and even extermination for their anti-communist beliefs.




    NATIONAL DAY 3,500 Romanian troops and another 500 from over 20 allied or partner countries, 200 military vehicles and over 50 aircraft will take part on December 1 in Bucharest in the National Day parade, the Defence Ministry has announced. The Romanian military on missions in theatres of operations in Afghanistan, the Western Balkans and Mali will also organise military ceremonies on National Day. Proclaimed a national holiday after the anti-communist revolution of 1989, December 1 marks the conclusion of the establishment of the Romanian nation-state at the end of World War 1, in 1918.



    COLECTIV After the Bucharest Court completed its investigations, on Monday the prosecution and the defence will present their closing statements in the case concerning the fire in Colectiv night club in Bucharest 4 years ago, in which 64 people died, one committed suicide further to the trauma and 200 others were injured. The Colectiv trial started in April 2016. After 2 years of deferrals over procedural matters, the judge assigned to the case retired, and during another year the new judge has heard the statements of scores of witnesses and victims.




    UN The 15 members of the UN Security Council endorsed a declaration reaffirming the ban on chemical weapons. The Council has reached a consensus long undermined by the war in Syria, and the Skripal affair in the UK or Kim Jong-nam case in Malaysia, AFP reports. The Council reaffirms that the use of chemical weapons is a violation of international law, and declares its firm opposition to it. The declaration, proposed by Great Britain, was passed unanimously. The UN Security Council urges all states that have not yet done so to sign the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons, which was signed in 1993 and came into force in 1997. Syria joined the Convention in 2013, Israel has signed it, but is yet to ratify it, whereas North Korea, Egypt and South Sudan are not yet parties to this Convention.




    POPE Pope Francis arrived in Japan on Saturday, on the second leg of his tour of Asia whose main goal is to send a message against nuclear weapons in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the only cities in the world ever hit by atomic bombs, Reuters says. On Sunday in Nagasaki the Pope, a vocal militant against nuclear weapons, will read a message against weapons of mass destruction. He will also meet with survivors of the Fukushima nuclear disaster of March 11, 2011, the most destructive after the one in Chernobyl in 1986. After Thailand, the first stop in his tour, the Pope reached Tokyo, where he will stay for 4 days. This is the first visit by a Sovereign Pontiff to this country in 38 years, and only the second in history. Another goal of his visit is to encourage the Catholic community in Japan, where only 1% of the population are Christians and half of these Catholics. The Pope will perform 2 services, one in Nagasaki and one in Tokyo, and will have meetings with senior Japanese officials and with Emperor Naruhito.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION UPDATE

    PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION UPDATE


    ELECTION The incumbent president, Klaus Iohannis, backed by the ruling National Liberal Party, and the former Social Democratic PM Viorica Dancila will run in the second round of the presidential election in Romania on November 24, according to the partial counting made public on Sunday night, after the first round. The official results for 95% of the votes nation-wide put Iohannis first with around 36%, followed by Dancila with 24% and Barna with 13%. All the other 11 candidates got between 0.1% and 9% of the votes. The incumbent head of state said the war against the Social Democratic Party is not over, and called on citizens to vote in the second round as well. Sundays vote helps the Social Democrats to keep campaigning and to prove what they want to achieve on behalf of Romanias people, said Viorica Dancila. According to the Central Electoral Bureau, the turnout in the country was 47.66%. In the diaspora, where people went to polling stations as of Friday, record-high turnout figures were reported, with over 650,000 voters reported to have cast their ballots. The election continues abroad, with polling stations closing on Monday morning on the US West Coast.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • May 27, 2019 UPDATE

    May 27, 2019 UPDATE

    SENTENCE The former head of the ruling coalition in Bucharest, Liviu Dragnea, was imprisoned on Monday night, after having been sentenced by the supreme court to prison for corruption offences. Dragnea will be quarantined for 21 days, during which he will undergo physical and psychological check-ups, and his prison activities will be decided. The head of the Social Democratic Party in power and Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Dragnea was sentenced on Monday to 3 and a half years behind bars for inciting abuse of office. The prosecution proved that while he was the president of the Teleorman County Council, Dragnea had 2 social assistance workers illegally employed with the Teleorman Child Protection Service, although in fact they were working for the local branch of the Social Democratic Party. Liviu Dragnea had also received a suspended sentence for election fraud, involving the 2012 referendum for the impeachment of ex president Traian Basescu. The Social Democrats executive president, PM Viorica Dancila, announced she will be the interim party president until a special congress is held. The Chamber of Deputies will also elect a new speaker.



    ELECTION Sundays election in Romania sends to the European Parliament representatives from 6 political parties, according to the results announced by the Central Electoral Bureau after most votes have been counted. The National Liberal Party, the largest in the right-of-centre opposition, got the most votes, 26.35%, followed by the Social Democrats in power with 23.16%, and the Alliance 2020 USR – PLUS with 21.24%. Three other Romanian parties will be represented in the EP: PRO România – 6.7%, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania and the Peoples Movement Party with around 5.5% each. Seven other parties that took part in the election were below the 5% threshold. In the diaspora, many Romanians queued for hours to be able to cast their ballots. According to Radio Romanias correspondents in Rome, Madrid and London, people complained about the poor organisation of the vote. The Foreign Minister Teodor Meleşcanu issued a news release apologizing for the problems and saying he ordered an investigation in the countries in question. He also ordered the Foreign Ministry to run an immediate analysis to identify solutions and legislative measures for the development of a voting system adapted to the needs of the Romanian communities abroad. The turnout at the EP election was a record-breaking 49%. On the same day as the EP election, Romanians also voted in a referendum on the judiciary, initiated by President Klaus Iohannis. Over 80% of those who voted in the referendum answered “yes. The referendum turnover was over 41%, above the 30% minimum threashold for the vote to be validated. President Klaus Iohannis said on Monday that Romanians had cast a pro-Europe vote, in a country where thieves and criminals belong in prison, and once again criticised the organisation of the ballot in the diaspora.



    COUNCIL President of Romania Klaus Iohannis takes part on Tuesday in an informal meeting of the European Council in Brussels. The main topic will be an analysis of the results of the elections for the European Parliament, held between May 23rd and 26th. The EU leaders will also have a preliminary discussion on the candidates for the top posts in EU institutions.



    UNIVERSITIES Until May 31st, 24 Romanian universities are presenting their educational offer in Washington, at the annual NAFSA conference and exhibition, the most prestigious in the world in this field, the Romanian Council of Rectors has announced. The conference brings together more than 10,000 participants and 3,500 universities from over 100 countries. “Romania offers a high-quality, adequate and safe learning environment as well as European-standard campus facilities, for more competitive costs than other European countries, reads a news release issued by the Romanian Council of Rectors.



    POPE Online registration for attendance of the religious services held by Pope Francis in Romania continue until Friday. Hundreds of thousands of people have already registered. Besides Romanians, Christians from neighboring countries such as Hungary, Serbia and Ukraine but also from far away countries like Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Australia and Israel will come to Romania for the Popes visit. Pope Francis makes a three-day apostolic visit to Romania from the 31st of May to the 2nd of June following an invitation from President Klaus Iohannis and the Catholic Church in Romania. The motto of the visit is “Lets walk together. The pontiff will travel to the capital Bucharest, to Iasi, the biggest city in the east of the country and home to a sizeable Roman-Catholic community, to Blaj, in the centre, the spiritual capital of the Romanian Greek-Catholics and to the Marian shrine in Sumuleu Ciuc, in the centre, in an area with a majority ethnic Hungarian population.



    EU The Council of the European Union Monday adopted a negotiating mandate allowing the Commission to take part in multilateral negotiations on electronic commerce. “The digitalisation of our economy has fundamentally changed the way businesses and consumers do trade. It was high time for international rules to reflect this transformation. The EU is committed to working with its WTO partners to put in place an ambitious and pragmatic framework that will guarantee a safe and predictable environment for online trade, said the Romanian Minister for Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship Ştefan-Radu Oprea, who chaired the formal meeting of the Foreign Affairs (Trade) Council, as part of Romanias presidency of the Council of the EU.



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • Romania is bracing for EU Parliamentary Elections and for a referendum

    Romania is bracing for EU Parliamentary Elections and for a referendum

    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)

  • October 8, 2018 UPDATE

    October 8, 2018 UPDATE

    REFERENDUM – 21.10% of the Romanian eligible voters took part in the referendum for rephrasing the constitutional definition of family as being based on the marriage of a man and a woman, rather than of “spouses, as it is at present. According to final data provided by the Central Election Bureau, the voter turnout in the 2 days of the vote, Saturday and Sunday, was below the validation threshold. To be validated, the referendum needed a minimum 30% turnout. Out of the participants in the referendum, some 91.5% voted in favour of changing the Constitution article, and only 6.5% voted against. The bill revising the Constitution was passed in Parliament and was based on a citizen initiative signed by 3 million people. On the other hand, the minister delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu announced that a bill regulating civil partnership will be tabled to Parliament next week. The bill is finalized, and it has been discussed with partners in political parties and civil society, Negrescu said.




    INTERVIEW – The Prosecutor Department of the Higher Magistracy Council in Romania Monday issued a negative opinion on Adina Florea, nominated by the Justice Minister, Tudorel Toader, for the position of chief prosecutor of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate. The Councils opinion is consultative, and the appointment decision must be made by President Klaus Iohannis. In the project with which she applied for the post, Adina Florea says that, apart from the good things, the activity of anti-corruption prosecutors in recent years also comprised deviations from the requirements of the rule of law. The office of chief prosecutor of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate has been vacant since July, when Laura Codruţa Kovesi was removed from office by President Klaus Iohannis, who was forced to implement a Constitutional Court ruling. In this respect as well, the Higher Council of Magistracy issued a negative consultative report.




    MOTION – The Chamber of Deputies Monday debated a simple motion filed by the National Liberal Party, in opposition, against Economy Minister Danut Andrusca. The Liberals accuse Andrusca of deliberately destabilizing the country’s economy. According to the motion text, “industrial activity failed nearly to zero in August, the lowest level since February, economic growth is offset by inflation and managers expectations for the next 6 months remain pessimistic. Meanwhile, Liberal Deputies also filed on Monday a simple motion against the Culture Minister George Ivascu, whom they accuse of being unable to coordinate the historical celebration of December 1, when Romania marks the Union Centennial.




    HEARING – The High Court of Cassation and Justice Monday postponed for November 5th the first hearing in the appeal filed by Social-Democrat leader and Chamber of Deputies Speaker Liviu Dragnea against a 3-and-a-half-year prison sentence from the court of first instance. In June, the court handed Dragnea this sentence for instigation to abuse of office. Anticorruption prosecutors say Liviu Dragnea ordered the fictitious employment of two party members at the Social Assistance and Child Protection Directorate. The two were paid with taxpayer money, although they allegedly worked exclusively for the Social-Democratic Party. Liviu Dragnea denied the accusations. In 2016, Dragnea was handed a suspended 2-year prison sentence for attempted election fraud. This summer the High Court cancelled the ruling to suspend the prison sentence. Dragnea is also prosecuted for abuse of office in 2 other cases, one of them re-opened last week, further to reports coming from the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).




    JUDICIARY – The Romanian Supreme Court postponed for November 5 an appeal filed by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate against the acquittal of constitutional court judge Toni Grebla. In May, a Constitutional Court 3-judge panel dismissed the charges against Grebla, who had been indicted in 2015 for influence peddling, forgery, financial operations incompatible with his office, and setting up an organised crime group. In a government re-shuffling announced for October, Toni Greblă might become a secretary general of the Government. The president of the Social Democratic Party in power, Liviu Dragnea, proposed Grebla for this office in a late September meeting of the partys National Executive Committee.




    EUROPEAN WEEK OF REGIONS – The 2018 edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities started in Brussels on Monday, in the presence of European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, the head of the European Committee of the Regions, Karl-Heinz Lambertsz and European Parliament vice-president, Pavel Telicka. This year’s edition is a special one, devoted to the European Commission’s cohesion policy proposal for 2021-2027. Decision-makers and local, regional, national and European experts will take part in a series of debates as part of the most important event devoted to cohesion policies at European level.




    NOBEL – The Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded this year to the Americans William Nordhaus and Paul Romer, for integrating climate change and technological innovation into long-run macroeconomic analysis. The Nobel in economics was introduced in 1968 by Swedens Central Bank and was first granted in 1969. Unlike the other Nobel prizes, which are funded by the Nobel Foundation, this award is financed by the Central Bank of Sweden. The 2018 Nobel season has concluded with the award of this last prize.




    INTERPOL – The Interpol chief, Meng Hongwei, is probed into for bribe taking and other alleged offences, Chinas Ministry of State Security announced on Monday. Beijing confirmed that Meng Hongwei, who is also the deputy Minister for State Security in China, has resigned as Interpol chief. Meng Hongwei, 64, was announced missing last week, while on a trip to his home country. The Interpol will elect a new president at the General Assembly scheduled for next week in Dubai.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • October 6, 2018 UPDATE

    October 6, 2018 UPDATE

    REFERENDUM – Nearly 19 million Romanian voters are invited on Saturday and Sunday to vote on a proposed redefinition of the concept of family in the Constitution. The initiators aim to define “family as an institution based on the marriage of a man and a woman, rather than the marriage of spouses, as it is at present. According to data released by the Central Electoral Bureau, by 19:00, local time, 5.15% of the total number of eligible voters had cast their ballots, many of them in urban communities. By the same hour, some 37,000 Romanians living abroad had voted. The Romanians living abroad can vote in 378 polls hosted by diplomatic missions, consular offices, cultural institutes and other locations. The largest number of polls abroad will be in Italy, Spain, the Republic of Moldova, the USA, UK, France and Germany. The voting process abroad will conclude on the US West Coast and in Canada on Monday morning, according to Romanian time. The vote in the diaspora started on Friday night in Auckland, New Zealand. On the whole, the vote abroad will take 58 hours. Parliament has passed a bill rephrasing the Constitutional definition of marriage, based on a citizen initiative signed by 3 million people. The referendum will be validated provided that a 30% turnout rate is met and 25% of the eligible voters cast valid votes.




    LAW – The Speaker of the Senate of Romania Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu said on Saturday that he wants a consensus of all parliamentary parties with respect to the Offshore Bill. In the next 2 weeks, when the bill is to be once again discussed, we will have enough time to find the best solutions, Tariceanu also said. The so-called Offshore Bill, which sets out the rules for natural gas extraction in the Black Sea, was discussed on Wednesday in the Chamber of Deputies, which decided to send the text back to the specialised committees. The bill was originally passed in the previous parliamentary session, but President Klaus Iohannis returned it to Parliament for a review.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • October 6, 2018 UPDATE

    October 6, 2018 UPDATE

    REFERENDUM – Nearly 19 million Romanian voters are invited on Saturday and Sunday to vote on a proposed redefinition of the concept of family in the Constitution. The initiators aim to define “family as an institution based on the marriage of a man and a woman, rather than the marriage of spouses, as it is at present. According to data released by the Central Electoral Bureau, by 19:00, local time, 5.15% of the total number of eligible voters had cast their ballots, many of them in urban communities. By the same hour, some 37,000 Romanians living abroad had voted. The Romanians living abroad can vote in 378 polls hosted by diplomatic missions, consular offices, cultural institutes and other locations. The largest number of polls abroad will be in Italy, Spain, the Republic of Moldova, the USA, UK, France and Germany. The voting process abroad will conclude on the US West Coast and in Canada on Monday morning, according to Romanian time. The vote in the diaspora started on Friday night in Auckland, New Zealand. On the whole, the vote abroad will take 58 hours. Parliament has passed a bill rephrasing the Constitutional definition of marriage, based on a citizen initiative signed by 3 million people. The referendum will be validated provided that a 30% turnout rate is met and 25% of the eligible voters cast valid votes.




    LAW – The Speaker of the Senate of Romania Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu said on Saturday that he wants a consensus of all parliamentary parties with respect to the Offshore Bill. In the next 2 weeks, when the bill is to be once again discussed, we will have enough time to find the best solutions, Tariceanu also said. The so-called Offshore Bill, which sets out the rules for natural gas extraction in the Black Sea, was discussed on Wednesday in the Chamber of Deputies, which decided to send the text back to the specialised committees. The bill was originally passed in the previous parliamentary session, but President Klaus Iohannis returned it to Parliament for a review.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • May 25, 2014 UPDATE 3

    May 25, 2014 UPDATE 3

    The leftist alliance made up of the Social-Democratic Party, the National Union for the Progress of Romania and the Conservatives, which also has the government majority in Bucharest got the largest number of votes in the EU Parliamentary election held in Romania on Sunday, between 41 and 43% of the votes, according to the exit polls made public upon the closing of the polling booths. Next came the center-to-right parties, the National Liberals, who got between 13 and 15% of the votes, the Democrat Liberals between 11 and 12% of the votes and the pro-presidential People Movement’s Party between 6 and 7% of the votes. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, part of the ruling coalition has mustered between 6 and 7% of the votes, while independent candidate Mircea Diaconu obtained between 4 and 5%. Social-Democrat leader Victor Ponta said the result obtained was a special one adding that he would propose the National Liberals to rebuild the Social-Liberal Union, the alliance, which won the Parliamentary election of 2012, but later fell apart due to intestine fights. Romania will have 32 MEPs and the turnout on Sunday was 32.16 %. The EU parliamentary election ended in all 28 EU countries on Sunday night. According to EU Parliament estimates voter turnout across the EU stood at 43.11%, and the results show that the European People’s Party is likely to get 211 MEP seats, the Socialists 193, the Liberals 74 while 58 seats are for the Greens. The Conservatives and the Euro-skeptics reformists would get 39 MEP seats.




    On Sunday in Bethlehem Pope Francis called on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to step up efforts and create the prerequisites for the conclusion of a peace accord. Bethlehem, which according to Christian tradition is the place where Jesus Christ was born, was the first leg of the Pope’s tour of the Palestinian territories and Israel. After holding an open-air mass, in front of the Church of the Nativity, the Pontiff was flown to Tel Aviv. On Saturday the Pope had visited Amman in Jordan, where he called for more respect for religious freedom.



    According to the latest exit polls, pro-Western candy tycoon Petro Poroshenko has reaped most of the votes in the snap presidential election in Ukraine, between 55.9 and 57.8% of the total number. Second came former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko with 13% of the votes. Tymoshenko has admitted defeat but insisted on her plans to stage a referendum on the country’s NATO accession. 60% of the eligible Ukrainians took to the polls all over the country on Sunday but turnout was visibly higher in the country’s western regions. In the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk only 34 polling stations were operational, while no station was available in Slavyanks and in other towns and villages controlled by pro-Russian separatists. The snap election in Ukraine, which is considered crucial for settling the crisis currently facing the country, was scheduled after pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich had fled Kiev, Russian troops had seized the Crimean peninsula and a pro-Russian insurgency had broken out in eastern Ukraine. Russian president Vladimir Putin said Moscow would respect the choice of the Ukrainian people and was ready to cooperate with the new government in Kiev. Tens of thousands police and army troops had been deployed to ensure the protection of the voters during the election in Ukraine, whose unfolding was monitored by more than 3,000 international observers.



    US president Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan on Sunday for a surprise visit to the US troops stationed in that country, France Press reports. This Monday the USA celebrates Memorial Day, commemorating the men and women who died in the line of duty in the US Armed Forces. Romania has 950 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, most of whom are serving in the south of the country which is considered a Taliban fiefdom. 26 Romanian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan in the past decade.



    Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean has vehemently condemned the bloody gun attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels on Saturday. The head of the Romanian diplomacy has said he firmly and unequivocally rejects any form of anti-Semitism, which can lead to this kind of criminal acts. The Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania has voiced consternation over the Brussels attack, which it qualified as a new manifestation of violent anti-Semitism. We recall that three people were killed and one seriously wounded by a gunman who opened fire in the Jewish Museum.