The first round of the presidential elections was uneventful, well organised, said Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, at the Victoria Palace, on Monday, at the meeting with representatives of the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Special Telecommunications Service and the Permanent Electoral Authority.
“I wanted to conduct this analysis. First of all, I want to congratulate you, the elections were indeed uneventful, they were well organised, there were only minor incidents, both internally and in the diaspora. Everything worked well,” said Orban at the beginning of the meeting.
Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu said that there were no problems in the diaspora, and the prime minister stressed that Romanians living outside the country’s borders were ”amazed” that they could vote without standing in line.
“I wanted to tell you that many who came to the vote, they told afterwards, including to me, that they were completely surprised that they could vote in a humane way, in a minute, that they didn’t stand in lines. I think that it is a natural moral repair that we had to do to our brothers, as the Romanians in the diaspora are Romanians and we must take care to respect their rights, to ensure optimum conditions so they be able to exercise their right to vote. At the Interior [Ministry] I saw the mobilization, the rapid interventions, you surprised me with the command center. (…) I want to establish the details for the preparation of the second round, because it is important to be equally attentive, mobilized, to ensure an exemplary fairness and all the procedures to be carried out under the law and in accordance with the high standards of democracy,” said Orban.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs to conduct “immediate analysis” into first round of election abroad
The Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) will conduct an “immediate analysis” into the first round of election abroad, before organising the second round, at the end of the month.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to pay special attention to the organisation of the second round of elections, to take place on November 22-24. In this regard, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu has already ordered all diplomatic and consular missions to conduct an immediate analysis into the possible aspects revealed by the first round”, reads a release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) sent to AGERPRES.
This analysis is necessary “in order to assess the measures that can be taken, within the limits of the legal authority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in order to optimize the organisational actions for the second round of presidential elections,” stresses the quoted source.
The preparation of the electoral process involved a considerable effort, attended by over 85 per cent of the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – central office, diplomatic and consular missions, as well as representatives of the Romanian communities abroad, showed the same source.
At the same time, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “the very large turnout of the Romanian citizens abroad in the election process for the election of the President of Romania is also an indicator of the real voting potential of the Romanian communities outside the borders, an aspect that will have to be taken into consideration, in order to be certain that the Romanian citizens abroad can exercise their right to vote.”
Over 650,000 voters voted at the polls abroad. The largest voter turnout in the Diaspora was recorded in Italy (nearly 130,000 voters) and the United Kingdom (over 119,000), according to the Central Electoral Bureau’s online platform. A high turnout was also recorded in Spain and Germany. There were also nearly 25,200 votes by correspondence.
For the presidential elections, 835 polling stations were set up abroad, and also it was possible to vote by correspondence. Most of the polling stations, over one hundred, were in Spain (148) and Italy (142). In Germany there were 84, in the United Kingdom – 73, in France – 48, the US – 38, the Republic of Moldova – 36, Belgium – 23, the Netherlands – 22, Ireland – 16, Denmark – 12, Austria and Greece – 11 each, Portugal – 9, Switzerland – 8.
Romanians abroad had three days at their disposal to vote in this election. The second tour in the Diaspora will take place on November 22, 23 and 24.
