The polling stations for the presidential election runoff opened on Sunday to more than 18 million Romanian voters.
Nationwide, there are 18,748 polling stations. According to the Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP), the total number of voters registered with the permanent electoral lists is 18,217,411 for this election.
The list of polling stations can be checked on the www.roaep.ro website. The electors can find out which polling station they are distributed to by accessing www.registrulelectoral.ro.
Citizens in the country can vote by producing a valid identity document, issued by the Romanian state; electronic identity card; provisional identity card; identity passbook; diplomatic passport; electronic diplomatic passport; service passport; electronic service passport; military passbook.
According to the AEP, the simple passport, the simple electronic passport and the temporary simple passport can be used only by the Romanian citizens with the residence abroad who vote in Romania.
More than 570,000 Romanians show up at polling stations in third day of vote abroad by 2:00 pm
More than 570,000 Romanians from the diaspora showed up at the polling stations on Sunday by 2:00 pm, in the second round of the presidential election.
Also, other 17,503 Romanians already voted by correspondence, according to the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC).
According to the data from BEC, most Romanians who voted abroad at the polling stations were recorded in Italy – approximately 122,000. There were also 94,000 Romanians who voted in the UK and almost 93,000 who voted in Germany. In Spain, the country with the largest number of polling stations, 143, there were 82,000 Romanians who showed up at the polling stations.
Romanians abroad started to vote on Friday and they can still vote until Sunday evening.
There were 835 polling stations organised for them in the weekend, between 7:00 am and 9:00 pm local time. Voters who will still be inside a polling station at 9:00 pm, and also those outside the polling stations, will still be able to vote until 11:59 pm.
Iohannis: Voter turnout is good and I hope for more
The National Liberal Party (PNL) candidate in the presidential elections, President Klaus Iohannis, has stated at the PNL headquarters on Sunday that the voter turnout is very good, mentioning that there are prospects for the turnout in Diaspora to be higher than in the first round of the presidential election.
“The voter turnout is good and I hope for more. (…) In the Diaspora it is very good and here, there are prospects of a higher turnout than in the first round, which would obviously be a new record that we would make us very glad,” Iohannis stated.
Klaus Iohannis was briefly present at the PNL headquarters.
What have politicians voted for
Iohannis: I have voted for a modern, European, normal Romania
The National Liberal Party (PNL) candidate in the presidential elections, President Klaus Iohannis, has stated that he voted for a modern, European, normal Romania and called on the electors to turn out to vote.
“Today is a very, very important day. I personally have voted for a modern, European, normal Romania and I invite you all, dear Romanians, to turn out to vote. Today, it is an extremely important day, we vote for Romania’s future, for the direction in which Romania should go further. Today is the day of the champions with the “VOTED” stamp in their hand. Dear Romanians, today, be all champions!,” Iohannis stated after he cast his vote at the polling station set up at the “Jean Monnet” High School.
He showed that he expected many Romanians to turn out to vote.
“I have the expectation for many Romanians to turn out to vote and, obviously, with some excitement, we are expecting the result this evening,” Iohannis stated.
Iohannis has also said that he doesn’t believe there will be any incidents.
“From the pieces of information I have so far, everything is very well organised and I believe things will unfold normally. It’s important for people to go and vote,” the President concluded.
Accompanying the head of state at the polling station were Prime Minister and PNL Chairman Ludovic Orban and several Liberals.
PSD’s Dancila: I voted for Romania “going forward not backwards”
Social Democratic Party (PSD) candidate in the presidential election Viorica Dancila said she voted for a Romania “going forward, not backwards,” and “from the heart for Romania and the Romanians.”
“I have voted for a Romania going forward, not backwards to times when we had no rights, we had no liberties, because all the power was in the hands of a single man. I have voted for a mandate at Cotroceni [Presidential Palace] in which we should see more involvement, more work, more respect and devotion for the Romanian people and for our national interests. I have voted with my heart and from the heart for Romania and the Romanians,” Viorica Dancila said on Sunday, after she exercised the right to vote at the “Sfantul Sava” National College.
Asked why she chose, same as in the first round, to cast her vote at such an early hour, the PSD candidate replied: “The early bird catches the worm, doesn’t it?”.
She added that the vote on Sunday is a “very important one.”
“The vote today can shape up a different future for Romania, so that in the decisions of the one who is elected today we should see more of the Romanian people’s aspirations,” Dancila said.
The PSD Candidate said it is “very well” that the Romanians in the diaspora turned out to vote in great numbers.
“This is why we established the three days of voting and the mail voting, for Romanians in the diaspora to be able to vote in an as great number as possible. It is very well that they voted,” she explained.
Accompanying Viorica Dancila to vote at the “Sfantul Sava” National College were her husband, Cristinel Dancila, and her presidential campaign head Lia Olguta Vasilescu.
“I support her because she is a good Romanian and loves Romania,” Cristinel Dancila said.
The PSD candidate was expected at the polling station by tens of supporters.
PM Orban: I have voted normally, I have voted for a democratic Romania
Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said he voted for a Romania that is respected in the world, where each should have the chance to succeed in life and where the state institutions should serve the citizen.
“I have voted normally, I have voted for a democratic Romania, respected in the world, for a Romania where each Romanian should be able to succeed in life, lead a normal, natural life and I have also voted for a Romania that should develop, in which the state institutions serve the citizen, in which the law is law for everyone, a Romania that should be the home of each Romanian, so welcoming that it makes those in the diaspora come back home,” Orban said on Sunday.
He urged Romanians to exercise their right to vote, because it is a fundamental right and “when there are elections, Romanians have the possibility to decide which direction the country should go to.”
“They must use this fundamental right, because Romania’s fate is up to each Romanian. Even if some believe that a vote represents much too little, I am telling them that little by little you build something big, vote by vote Romania can be brought on the right track. (…) I am not nervous about the victory of the candidate we support, only about the score, and I hope it will be an as categorical as possible score, so that the Romanians’ will for a normal Romania, a developed Romania, a Romania respected in the world be as clear and as strongly expressed as possible on the occasion of the second round of the presidential election,” the PM said.
Orban mentioned that, so far, the voting in the diaspora is “spectacular.”
“I am very glad there is such a massive turnout and this gives me hope, because Romanians in the diaspora, in other countries, who sought their fate elsewhere, exercising their right to vote shows me a major interest for the fate of the country and this reveals there is a great desire to come back to Romania from very many Romanians who are in the diaspora today,” Orban concluded.
The PM voted at School No. 1 of Dobroesti, Ilfov.
IntMin Vela: Today it’s good to vote for normality
Interior Minister Marcel Vela has stated on Sunday morning that he voted in the presidential elections for “normality.”
“Today, it’s good to vote for normality, for a normal country and I especially voted for my granddaughter and for a normal future, so she may live in a normal country,” Vela stated, after he cast his vote at the polling station set up at the “Jean Monnet” High School.
He was asked why he came to vote at first light.
“Because we are on position. The Interior Ministry is on duty and we desire, from all our hearts, for the runoff to be organised just as well as the first round, without incidents and, in this regard we will have a lot of work, at the ministry, videoconference, everything related to a good organisation, a good conduct of the electoral process,” the Minister stated.
Marcel Vela showed that approximately 39,000 policemen, gendarmes, representatives with the Inspectorate General for Emergency Situations (IGSU) and MAI have been mobilised on the day of presidential elections.
Former President Basescu: I voted with good thoughts
Former President Traian Basescu has stated that he voted “with good thoughts,” adding that he wants to have the guarantee that Romania would develop positively within the EU and NATO.
“I want the guarantee that Romania will develop positively within the EU, NATO. I don’t want to hear that insignificant persons make foreign affairs decisions and many others,” Basescu stated, after he cast his vote at a polling station set up at the “Jean Monnet” High School.
He has said that it would be good for Romanians to turn out to vote.
“It’s good they come to vote, because democracy isn’t an optional matter. Many understand that it’s optional. It’s true, the Constitution doesn’t force us, but if you want democracy then defend it. Defend it with the vote!,” the former President stated.
He came to vote accompanied by his wife Maria Basescu.
USR’s Barna fully confident that at the end of the day, there will be hope for modernising Romania again
National leader of the Save Romania Union (USR) Dan Barna said on Sunday that he “is fully confident that at the end of the day, there will be hope for modernising Romania again.”
“I cast the necessary and, in my opinion, mandatory vote for the quality of citizen of Romania. I have voted so that the 10 August file be finalised, I have voted for Romania to continue its direction towards Europe, the direction towards welfare and the direction towards a civilised state and a modern state. Only one of the two candidates offers that hope and it is not a guarantee, it is a hope. That is why I am urging all voters to come out and vote today, because today that small stamp is the force that we as a society have to give that message in which we want to talk about community and we want to talk about people and not about vested interests. I am urging people to come out and vote. This is a very important moment to the history of Romania and I am fully confident that at the end of the day, there will again be a hope for a modernising Romania,” said Barna, at the ballot box.
Unlike the first round of the presidential elections, when he was accompanied by the whole family, on Sunday Barna came to vote with colleagues from USR and PLUS.
Photo: https://www.facebook.com/pnl.ro
