Radio România Internațional

Tag: vote rigging

  • Talks on improving election laws

    Talks on improving election laws

    It happened in the presidential elections of 2014, and once again, at a much larger scale, in the May 26 elections for the European Parliament: tens of thousands of people queued for hours in polling stations abroad in order to exercise their constitutional right to vote, and many of them didnt even get to cast their ballots.



    “The humiliation experienced by Romanian citizens in the May 26 vote must never happen again, President Klaus Iohannis warned. According to him, Parliament, the Government, the Interior and the Foreign Ministries and the Permanent Electoral Authority must take all measures to eliminate the factors found to have contributed to this problem. Such measures, the head of state insisted, must cover all types of elections and referendums.



    A task force set up within the Presidency following the incidents reported on May 26 has listened to the opinions of citizens living abroad, of the relevant authorities, of NGOs and election experts, and together they have identified the measures that should be taken so that all citizens may vote in decent conditions.



    Klaus Iohannis: “These measures are aimed at eliminating red tape in the voting process in polling stations abroad, at properly equipping polling stations, at amending the election laws with respect to the procedures to be followed in closing polling stations, at increasing the number of polling stations outside Romania, at introducing early voting in the presidential election, in extending the option of mail voting, which is already in place for parliamentary elections, but should also be available for the presidential and other types of elections.



    Directly targeted by accusations of flawed organisation of the voting process in the diaspora during the EP elections, the Social Democratic Party in power says that tackling what went wrong in these elections was already a matter of interest to the Social Democrats, even without the Presidents request. The Social Democratic Party spokesman, Mihai Fifor, explained:



    Mihai Fifor: “The Permanent Electoral Authority has already announced that next week they will present the Cabinet with a draft emergency order on mail voting and extended early voting. As far as we know, the Permanent Electoral Authority suggests extended early voting by up to 7 days for those who will vote by mail. A lot of aspects are being analysed as we speak. What we are certain of is that we intend to address what went wrong on May 26.



    The ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats also considers setting up a parliamentary inquiry commission to look into the EP elections, amid allegations of vote rigging by means of supplemental voter lists. The right-wing opposition dismisses these suspicions as ridiculous, given that ballot stuffing is impossible once the voter ID is electronically recorded.



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • February 12, 2018 UPDATE

    February 12, 2018 UPDATE

    Report – The Romanian Parliament’s plenary sitting approved on Monday the report of the commission that investigated aspects related to the presidential election in 2009. According to the report, a series of facts likely to fuel suspicions of electoral fraud have been found. The report’s conclusions were backed by MPs with the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and rejected by the opposition, who voted against it, while representatives of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania and of the national minorities abstained from voting. The report will be submitted to the relevant institutions, such as the Prosecutor’s Office with the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the Presidential Administration, the Higher Council of Magistracy and the Government. The report says that the election was allegedly rigged in favor of the rightist Traian Basescu, helping him win a second term as president to the detriment of the Social Democrat Mircea Geoana.




    Military drills — 100 Romanian soldiers will be training, starting on Monday until Friday, together with around 200 soldiers from Bulgaria, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and the US in the Babadag shooting range (in southeastern Romania) as part of the “Black Sea Rotational Force” multinational drill. Participating in the drill from the Romanian Army are soldiers from the ground and naval forces as well as from the air forces.




    Flu — The National Public Health Institute on Monday announced that the number of deaths caused by the flu virus in Romania reached 21. More than 300 people have got the flu so far and over 800 thousand people have been vaccinated against it. Doctors have reiterated recommendations to the population to get vaccinated against the backdrop of a surge in flu cases. According to health minister Sorina Pintea Romania is not yet dealing with a flu epidemic, adding that prevention measures are very important and hospitals and public health institutions should take the necessary measures in this respect.




    Chisinau — The Audiovisual Coordinating Council in the Republic of Moldova is monitoring, as of Monday, whether radio and television stations observe the so-called ‘anti-propaganda’ law, which came into force on February 11. The law is aimed at eliminating the propagandistic messages from the Russian Federation and at protecting consumers from possible attempts of disinformation or manipulation from the outside. At the same time, the law is meant to eliminate media provocation against the Republic of Moldova, by rejecting TV and radio programs that provide information, analyses, military and political content that are not produced in the EU, the US, Canada and other states which are members of the European Convention on Cross-Border Television.




    Baccalaureate – In Romania, as many as 177,000 high school students and graduates from the previous graduating classes on Monday had started the exams assessing their linguistic and digital competences as part of the national Baccalaureate exam. Exams include oral examination in the Romanian language, and in the mother tongue for the students belonging to national minorities, assessment of digital competences and of linguistic competences in a language of international circulation. This is the first time when these exams are scheduled during the school year, several months ahead of high school graduation. The written examinations of the national Baccalaureate exam are scheduled for June.




    Tennis — 5 tennis players from Romania, among whom world’s no. 2 Simona Halep, are participating in the Doha tournament, in Qatar. On Monday, in the first round, Monica Niculescu (92 WTA) defeated Russian Maria Sharapova (41 WTA) in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 while Mihaela Buzărnescu (43 WTA) beat Ukrainian Lesia Ţurenko (40 WTA), 7-5, 6-4. On Tuesday, after the inaugural round, Irina Begu (37 WTA) will take on the Australian Samantha Stosur (44 WTA), and Sorana Cîrstea (38 WTA) will play against Maria Sakkari of Greece. Simona Halep, who qualified directly to the 2nd round, will be up against Russian Ekaterina Makarova (36 WTA). Halep won the Doha tournament in 2014. (Translated by Elena Enache)