Thousands of Romanian citizens who live abroad were unable to vote on Sunday. The Romanian citizens waited for hours to reach the polls and encountered numerous difficulties, having to bear the disproportionate reaction of the law enforcement forces to some polling stations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not take sufficient measures to improve the voting process.
Union Save Romania, which is the third largest party in the Romanian parliament, calls for the establishment of a special inquiry commission on the restriction of the voting rights of Romanian citizens in the Diaspora.
“It is the second time that Romanians from abroad come to vote with the sincere desire to contribute to the change of things in this country and are not actually allowed to vote! Simply, we must no longer allow these people, who are doing their best to help their country, be rejected and treated with such contempt by the Romanian authorities. We want to see who were guilty of this rigid organization of the European Parliamentary elections in the Diaspora, and we hope that our approach will be supported by all the opposition parties, “said deputy Cristina Pruna, the leader of the USR parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies.
In order to prevent such situations in the future, USR supports the adoption in Parliament of the vote by correspondence and electronic vote for the Diaspora.
USR, which is an ally of Emmanuel Macron’s REM, arrived third (21.24% of the votes) and enters for the first time in the European Parliament with 8 seats. The ruling socialist party collapsed with 23,16% and won only 8 seats, half of the 2014 seats. The opposition National Liberal Party, a member of EPP, came first with 26,35% and won 11 seats. Three minor parties, PRO Romania, the Union of Hungarians (UDMR) and the People’s Movement Party won 2 seats each.
