ROMANIA: ELECTION AUTHORITIES REJECT OPPOSITION DEMANDS THAT RECENT GENERAL ELECTION RESULT SHOULD BE ANNULLED BECAUSE OF FRAUDULENT COUNTING

Record ID: 648666

  • Title: ROMANIA: ELECTION AUTHORITIES REJECT OPPOSITION DEMANDS THAT RECENT GENERAL ELECTION RESULT SHOULD BE ANNULLED BECAUSE OF FRAUDULENT COUNTING
  • Date: 30th November 2004
  • Summary: (U7) BUCHAREST, ROMANIA (NOVEMBER 30, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. NIGHTSHOT - EXTERIOR OF THE CENTRAL ELECTORAL BUREAU 0.06 2. INTERIOR OF ELECTORAL BUREAU, ROMANIAN FLAG 0.09 3. MEDIA CUT-AWAY 0.15 4. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) EMIL GHERGHUT, THE PRESIDENT OF THE CENTRAL ELECTORAL BUREAU, SAYING: "The result is the following, Adrian Nastase 40,97%, Traian Basescu 33, 86%, Corneliu Vadim Tudor 12,56%, Marko Belo 5,14%." 0.37 5. SCU: CUT-AWAY CAMERA OPERATOR 0.41 6. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) VICTOR PASCA-CAMENITA, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE CENTRAL ELECTORAL BUREAU, SAYING: "Having in mind that the number of votes for the parties is equal to the number of the valid votes, this mistake or difference which appears in the statement, can in no case be considered electoral fraud, so the demand was rejected." 1.09 7. CUT-AWAY CAMERA CREWS 1.14 8. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) GABRIEL JIFCU, GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE NATIONAL STATISTICS INSTITUTE, SAYING:"They (people from polling stations) read wrongly the text of this form and without looking at what is written in the first line, they copied the number of registered voters in the line of cast votes thinking it's the same issue." 1.33 9. CUT-AWAYS OF PRESS CONFERENCE 1.46 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 15th December 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
  • Country: Romania
  • Reuters ID: LVAAVEFAHO0GLRE13E9EFFG0QJ2U
  • Story Text: Romanian election authorities reject opposition
    claims of elction fraud.


    Romania's election authorities on Tuesday (November
    30) threw out an opposition demand that last Sunday's
    general election should be annulled because of fraudulent
    counting.

    The election gave the ruling ex-communists a modest
    lead, but not a majority.

    The row has threatened to plunge the Balkan country
    into weeks of uncertainty as it struggles to speed up
    reforms needed to join the European Union in 2007 and as
    neighbouring Ukraine faces upheaval over a similar election
    dispute.

    The central electoral bureau voted 21 to five to reject
    the opposition demand, denying that there had been any
    fraud. It said any discrepancies in the count had been the
    result of calculation errors that were later corrected.

    "We made mistakes that were interpreted with ill-will.

    This spread in Romania and abroad and tarnished our
    reputation," Emil Gherghut, president of the bureau, told a
    news conference.

    Unlike Ukraine, Romania has had three free and fair
    elections already in its post-communist existence.

    The OSCE watchdog had said on Monday that, while the
    voting process had been generally "professional and
    efficiently organised", authorities should fully examine
    Romanian observers' reports of multiple voting across the
    country. It did not comment on the suggestion that the
    count had been falsified.

    With nearly 99 percent of the vote counted, the ruling
    Social Democrat Party (PSD) led with 37 percent. The
    Justice and Truth alliance, composed of the centrist
    Liberal and Democrat parties, followed with 31 percent.

    Traian Basescu, leader of the alliance, said
    manipulation of the electronic count had affected more than
    100,000 votes in the parliamentary election and 160,000 in
    the presidential poll. The two parties were only about
    470,000 votes apart.

    Basescu demanded the resignation of the electoral bureau and the
    ex
    amination of its computers by independent
    specialists.

    "Those who defrauded the elections are scoundrels who
    want to make Romania like Ukraine," he said.

    But he added: "I ask voters to stay home. We are strong
    enough to defend democracy in Romania.

    The PSD denied stealing votes.

    Analysts and Western diplomats said the alliance
    allegations appeared serious enough to warrant an official
    investigation.

    Prime Minister Adrian Nastase of the PSD, who has also
    denied fraud, faces Basescu in a presidential runoff on
    Dec. 12.

    The government has won praise for its economic
    achievements but received EU criticism for slow structural
    reform, persistent graft and failure to protect human
    rights and press freedom.

    Romania and Bulgaria will form the EU's second eastward
    expansion after 10 states joined in May but Bucharest faces
    a mountain of hard reforms in order to join in 2007 as
    planned. EU accession is strongly backed by both the PSD
    and the alliance.

    The ruling party seemed to be winning more votes in the
    impoverished countryside, while the alliance, seen as more
    pro-business, was supported by the emerging middle class,
    wanting action against corruption.

    With neither side winning outright, both the PSD and
    the alliance were courting other parties in an effort to
    gain a parliamentary majority by the time a president is
    elected.


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