Romanian Voters Keep President Basescu in Power

World | May 19, 2007, Saturday // 00:00
Romanian Voters Keep President Basescu in Power Romania's President Traian Basescu won the support of 78% of the voters at national referendum on Saturday. Photo by presidency.ro

Romanians rejected the Parliament's impeachment of President Traian Basescu, backing him to keep his job at Saturday's referendum.

About 30% of the eligible voters went to the polling booths and 78% of them supported the president, the exit polls show.

Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time and closed at 8 p.m.

The country's lawmakers voted last month to suspend Basescu with an overwhelming 322 in favour and 108 against, claiming he had overstepped his constitutional powers.

Thousands of Romanians attended protest rallies in his support.

Romania joined the European Union in January, celebrating the occasion with its worst political crisis after the fall of communism.

Basescu's ongoing war of words with Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu and the left-wing opposition had little effect on the president's public approval rankings, but effectively paralysed both the government and the parliament.

Tariceanu resolved to boot ministers from Basescu's Democratic Party out of the cabinet earlier this month, ending the four-year-long association between the Democrats and Tariceanu's own Liberals.

The two parties were previously the senior partners in the cabinet that pushed for the reforms that took Romania into the EU, but the standoff between Basescu and Tariceanu highlighted the deficiencies of the Romanian political system, which mixes features of the parliamentary and presidential republic.

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