posted
Today I voted for the first time for the general elections in Romania. The first time I COULD have voted I had just gone to France and I would have had to go to Paris to vote, so... no thanks.
This time I went there early - 10AM, voting started at 9 - with Adrian, my friend who got in a car accident a while ago. The father of another Romanian girl who was with him in the accident brought him from the rehabilitation center and we have already talked to the people at the Consulate to let him go in front of the line and vote right away - he's using a metal frame to walk, so waiting in line for an hour or so wasn't really an option. Fortunately, there's a policy to let disabled or old people or the ones who have small children with them in front, so we didn't have to wait. They allowed me to vote at the same time, so I could go with him afterwards.
So, I voted. With the current major oposing coalition. So did he. But still, it seems that the rulling party will have more votes, around 41% to 35% for the oposition. That's bad - in my opinion - but not as bad as before. It means that the government will likely be composed of people from both parts, so it will all be more balanced than these last 4 years.
In the presidential election the gap is larger, around 8% in favor of the rulling party's candidate, but since he doesn't have majority there will be a second round, where anything can happen. (only the first two candidates from the first round enter the second one)
But the surprize of the day was that journalists from the local Romanian newspaper came to interview my friend! It seems he's going to be a celebrity now - me too, but a smaller one, as I was together with him in some of the pictures. I can't wait to see what he told them, as I didn't get to talk to him much afterwards...
That's all about the Romanian elections. There will be no second Ukraine, no matter what the result - both parties are in favor of our entrance in the EU. I'll post another 'report' when the counting is done and the final results are in.
posted
Congratulations on exercising your right to vote for the first time. And for getting to line skip. Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Thanks ElJay! I just found out that the second round will be on the 12th of december, so I'll still be here. Definitely going to vote!
Dragon, both candidates are trying to avoid any bloodshed by asking people to remain calm. The news titles can be misleading, as they state that the election was declared non-valid by the parliament. It is true, but it has no legal meaning, as apparently only the Supreme Court can decide thatn (plus the Presindet, some say). And the Supreme Court put the results on hold and they're meeting tomorrow for debates about it. I really hope they find a way to solve this, it would be very sad to see the two parts give in to violence...
And by the way, it appears there were some minor problems with the Romanian elections too - there always are, with any elections, you'd know that - but the oposition candidate said he will give reports about that to the electoral commision and try to solve any problems this way (meaning, no Ukraine-like situation).
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Thanks! That's good news; I'm glad that no one wants violence... I have an exchange student from Ukraine in one of my classes, and she was really worried about the mobs. I know that our news often gets things all mixed up, and I'm glad that you could give me more accurate info.
posted
Apparently not all news is good: there are talks about 'forming a republic within a federal Ukrainian state' in the eastern part of Ukraine - the one leaning towards Russia. There will be a referendum about it this Sunday.
The same news appeared in a Romanian newspaper, also saying that there were as many as two million people in eastern region's streets in favor of this... I remember reading that the current president would be against the referendum, but I forgot in which article I read that.
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yeah, voted again. The second round of the presidential elections was today. Only the first two candidates from round 1 participate and the exit polls show... 50% - 50%. Ooooh boy... Can't wait to get up tomorrow to see the final results!
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Am I the only one who was confused by the title? I immediately thought Matrix when I saw it and then got really confused about the post no 5 starting from 0 thingy. *boggle*
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
First of all: we won! The oposition candidate won the elections with 51.23% of the votes to 48.77% for the socialist candidate.
Alcon: Yeah, I used the Matrix titles, but not to get you confused or anything. Let me explain:
The "reloaded" situation would have been the one in which the socialist candidate would have been elected. They were in power for 10 years out of the 14 since the revolution, another mandate would have been boringly familiar... They're trying however to form a majority in the Parliament by allying themselves with some minor parties, but the problem is that since the oposition candidate won the presidential elections, he gets to name the Prime Minister, and he can choose to form a minority Government. So those minor parties might choose his coalition instead of the socialist party.
The "revolution" seems to be what's happening now: we have a President from a center coalition and we might be heading towards some extensive changes in the political life and not only there.
And why "both"? Because we might have ended up with the center President and a socialist Government. But it appears that's not going to happen.
Maaan, am I glad I voted! Now if the center coalition will actually CHANGE something instead of just talking about it, I'll consider myself happy! Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yay! This sounds very exciting for you and your country. It's neat to hear about from your perspective.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
ElJay, it IS very exciting! This are the closest elections we've ever had until now, and knowing that my vote really made a difference is... beyond words! I've called my friend Adrian at the rehabiliation center and he just couldn't believe it... I think all of the people there heard him scream with joy! Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Papa Moose: Well, what can I do, everything nowadays is interpreted as being taken from one movie or another... And I was counting more on the Scorpions effect, but hey, whatever suits you!
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Corwin, I totally got the Scorpions ref immediately. It's one of my favorite songs. =)
I'm not sure how Papa got Monsters... going to have to watch that again tonight to see if I can figure it out. LOL
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
And for getting to line skip. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
And I was counting more on the Scorpions effect, but hey, whatever suits you!
