Romanian court orders re-examining of void votes
11/12/2009 - 14:14:52Romania’s Constitutional Court today ordered a re-examination of ballots declared void in Sunday’s presidential election amid allegations of “massive fraud”.
Candidate Mircea Geoana has charged his Social Democratic Party has evidence of ballot stuffing, multiple voting, widespread vote-buying and has asked for new elections to be held.
Mr Geoana lost by a margin of just 70,000 votes to incumbent President Traian Basescu, garnering 49.7 % to Basescu’s by 50.3 %. Some 138,000 ballots were declared void.
The Constitutional Court must either validate the election results or order a repeat of the vote. A decision is pending.
Mr Basescu, who has denied fraud and suggested Mr Geoana is a poor loser, said today’s decision was “normal and democratic”.
“It seems correct to respond to the request to recount the void ballots by the Social Democrats,” he added.
There was no immediate comment from the Social Democrats. A member of the party, lawmaker Catalin Voicu, was briefly detained early today near his home by an anti-corruption brigade, the party said.
Mr Voicu was later released and declined to say why he had been detained.
Uncertainty over the election results only exacerbates Romania’s ills. The country is facing a severe economic downturn and has been mired in political instability since a Parliamentary no-confidence vote toppled the government in October.
The instability led the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to freeze a multibillion loan until a new government is in place.
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