Constitutional referendum in Romania 2018

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The constitutional referendum in Romania 2018 took place on October 6th and 7th. In the referendum, voters were asked if they wanted to change the definition of family under Article 48 of the Constitution to consolidate the prohibition of same-sex marriage in the Constitution.

prehistory

The referendum followed a citizens' initiative launched by the Coalţia pentru family at the end of 2015 and which received over three million signatures, well over the 500,000 needed to launch a constitutional referendum. Currently the Romanian Constitution defines the family as voluntary marriage “between spouses”, but the initiators of the initiative tried to change the gender neutral language with an explicit reference to the family as a union between a man and a woman. If this measure were adopted, same-sex marriage would become unconstitutional in the country, but Romanian law already prohibits same-sex marriage.

The referendum was originally supposed to take place in autumn 2017. In the Chamber of Deputies, the initiative was accepted on May 9, 2017 with 232 votes to 22. Only the MPs Uniunea Salvați România voted against the referendum. However, there was no referendum that year. At the end of March 2018, the referendum was supposed to take place in May 2018, later it was postponed to June 10th and finally to October 6th and 7th, 2018.

Some previous referendums in Romania failed because of a request for a 50% turnout for the results to be valid. This rule was changed in 2014 and the minimum voter turnout was reduced. Now only 30% voter turnout is required in a referendum, with 25% of the votes being valid from all eligible voters.

Viewpoints and election recommendations

Parties

The following table summarizes the positions of the major Romanian parties, including voting recommendations. The parties in bold were represented in Parliament on the day of the vote.

electoral
recommendation 		Political party Political
orientation 		Party leader receipt
Yes Partidul Social Democrat (PSD) Social democracy Liviu Dragnea
Partidul Mișcarea Populară (PMP) Liberal conservatism Eugene Tomac
Partidul România Unită (PRU) nationalism Victor Iovici
Partidul România Mare (PRM) nationalism Robert Buga
Partidul Ecologist Român (PER) Green Liberalism Dănuț pop
Partidul Național Țărănesc Creștin Democrat (PNȚ-CD) Christian Democracy Aurelian Pavelescu
Noua Dreaptă (ND) Right-wing extremism Tudor Ionescu
Boycott the
vote 		Uniunea Salvați România (USR) Anti-corruption Dan Barna
Partidul Verde (PV) Green politics Silviu Dumitru
Mișcarea România Împreună (RO +) liberalism Dacian Cioloș
Pro România (PRO) Social liberalism Victor Ponta
Partidul Democrației și Solidarității (DEMOS) Middle left Claudiu Crăciun
Neutral
(for participation) 		Partidul Național Liberal (PNL) 1 National liberalism Ludovic Orban
Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) regionalism Hunor Kelemen
Alianța Liberalilor și Democraților (ALDE) liberalism Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu
1 Both the majority of the parliamentary group and its party leader support the referendum.

church

The referendum is also supported by the Romanian Greek Catholic Church , the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Pentecostal Movement .

The Evangelical Church AB in Romania commented on this: “The marriage between man and woman is the foundation of a Christian society, but it neither needs to be defended nor should it be politicized in order to create a pseudo-issue that is about corruption, perversion of the law, nepotism and Distracts hostility. "

EU

33 members of the European Parliament from the Confederal Group of the European United Left / Nordic Green Left (GUE / NGL), the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Social Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D), the Greens / European Free Alliance (Greens / EFA), of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and also of the Group of the European People's Party (EPP) and the Group of European Conservatives and Reformers (ECR) have signed an open letter calling on the Romanian senators to oppose the Vote referendum.

On March 16, 2018, 40 MPs from the S&D, EPP, ECR and Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) wrote to President Klaus Iohannis, the President of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea , the President of the Senate Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu and the chairmen asked the opposition parties to organize the referendum on the definition of marriage.

On September 26, 2018, in a meeting with Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă , the members of the S&D group in the European Parliament (to which the PSD belongs) criticized the holding of the referendum on the grounds that such ideas do not belong to the European socialist family. Then, on October 3, 2018, 47 MEPs sent the Prime Minister an open letter expressing their dismay at the organization of the referendum. According to MPs, organizing the referendum without offering alternative forms of legal recognition of families makes the Romanian government an accomplice in human rights abuses in Romania.

Result

The constitutional referendum did not reach the necessary quorum of 30 percent of the electorate. 20.5 percent of the electorate took part, of which over 90 percent voted for the constitutional amendment, which is 19.5 percent of the electorate.

choice be right %
Yes 3,531,732 93.4
No 249,412 6.6
Invalid votes 76.111 2.0
Votes cast 3,857,308 100
Eligible voters 18,279,011 21.1
Source : BEC

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Romania moves closer to ruling out possibility of legalizing same-sex marriage . In: Reuters , July 20, 2016. Retrieved September 19, 2018. 
  2. ↑ ARTICLE 48 - Family . In: Constitution of Romania . Chamber of Deputies .: "The family is founded on the freely consented marriage of the spouses"
  3. ↑ Irina Marica: Romania to organize referendum against same-sex marriages in May . In: Romania-Insider.com . March 26, 2018.
  4. ^ Irina Marica: Initiative changing family definition in Romanian Constitution, voted by the deputies - Romania Insider . Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  5. ↑ Referendumul pentru familie, probabil în mai, în paralel cu legiferarea parteneriatului civil . In: Digi 24 . March 26, 2018.
  6. ↑ Propunere: Referendumul pentru redefinirea Familiei pe, iunie 10 . In: Digi 24 . May 3, 2018.
  7. ↑ a b De câte voturi este nevoie pentru aprobarea unui referendum . In: Digi24HD . 23rd January 2017.
  8. ↑ Referendum for Referendums by Corneliu Visoianu , Romania's Constitutional Court invalidated the ballot as it did not reach the 50% threshold required by law.
  9. ↑ Traian Danciu: A plebiscite against Europe . In: The time . 5th October 2018.
  10. ^ Iulia Roşca: Traian Băsescu a anunțat ce face la referendum . In: HotNews.ro . November 14, 2016.
  11. ↑ Tăriceanu: Suntem obligați să organizăm un referendum pe tema redefinirii familiei. România nu va deveni mai puțin liberală . In: Digi 24 . September 21, 2018.
  12. ↑ Familia este foarte importanta, familia traditionala romaneasca crestina, noi PRM pe 7 octombrie spunem DA . September 21, 2018.
  13. ↑ Răspunsuri la aproape toate dezinformările viral şi intoxicările mediatice despre Referendumul din octombrie 6-7 . 1st October 2018.
  14. ↑ Press office PRU Cluj: PRU Cluj: Nu suntem împotriva nimănui, dar credem în familia care începe cu un El și o Ea . In: TurdaNews . October 2, 2018.
  15. ↑ PER susține căsătoria dintre un bărbat și o femeie . 4th October 2018.
  16. ↑ Putem accepta sa devenim ne-oameni? Unii spun da, noi spunem NU! Mergem la referendum! . 4th October 2018.
  17. ↑ Noua dreapta organizează "marsul Normalităţii" . In: Radio România Actualități . June 9, 2018.
  18. ↑ Biroul Național al USR a validat rezultatul referendumului intern; partidul se va opune modificării Constituției pentru redefinirea familiei . In: News.ro . August 14, 2017.
  19. ↑ "O judecată DREAPTA va decide". Ce before să facă "Verzii", Bistriţa Civică şi comercianţii din centrul . In: Timp Online . 1st October 2018.
  20. ↑ Mișcarea România Împreună nu girează, prin participare, referendumul pentru family . In: Mișcarea România Împreună . September 12, 2018. Archived from the original on September 14, 2018. Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 7, 2018. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.romaniaimpreuna.ro
  21. ↑ Victor Ponta . October 7, 2018.
  22. ↑ Drepturile nu se supun la vot! . In: Platforma Demos . September 12, 2018.
  23. ↑ Ludovic Orban doreste ca PNL sa fie neutru la referendum .
  24. ↑ Cum joacă UDMR-iștii la referendum . In: Cotidianul . September 21, 2018.
  25. ↑ Alin Bratu: ALDE Sibiu nu se implică în referendum. “Fiecare să voteze conform conștiinței” . In: Turnul Sfatului . 4th October 2018.
  26. ↑ Orban, despre referendumul privind familia: Asta este lăsat de la Dumnezeu . In: Știrile Pro TV . 4th September 2017.
  27. ↑ Adriana Stanca: BOR sprijină OFICIAL Initiativa de modificare a Constitutiei: familia, Formata din Barbat şi femeie . January 15, 2016. Retrieved September 9, 2018. 
  28. ↑ Romania moves closer to ruling out possibility of legalizing same-sex marriage , Reuters . July 20, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2017. 
  29. ↑ Scrisoare deschisă a Episcopilor catolici: Susţinerea demersului de declanşare a referendumului pentru modificarea art. 48, alin. 1 din Constituţia României . May 6, 2017. Retrieved September 9, 2018. 
  30. ↑ COMUNICAT . In: Cultul Creștin Penticostal . 25th September 2018.
  31. ↑ Evangelical Church: Referendum disregards human dignity , Allgemeine Deutsche Zeitung für Romania, October 4, 2018
  32. ↑ EP Intergroup on LGBT rights asks Romanian Parliament to not support referendum for family redefinition . In: Romania-Insider.com . 18th May 2017.
  33. ↑ Sam Morgan: MEPs urge Romania against referendum on changing definition of marriage . In: EurActiv . May 18, 2017 .: "allowing the referendum, without providing for any alternative legal form of recognition of unmarried couples, seems to support the continued violation of human rights of same-sex partners"
  34. ↑ 40 de europarlamentari solicită politicienilor români să organizeze referendumul cu privire la căsătorie . In: AMOS News . March 16, 2018.
  35. ↑ Sarantis Michalopoulos: Angry EU Socialists grill Romanian PM over same-sex marriage referendum . In: EurActiv . 26th September 2018.
  36. ↑ 47 de europarlamentari i-au scris lui Dăncilă despre referendum: ”Suntem îngrijorați” . In: Știrile Pro TV . 3rd October 2018.
  37. ↑ BILD.de: Victory for love, lesbians and gays in Romania can breathe a sigh of relief , accessed on October 7, 2018; Luiza Ilie: Romanian constitutional ban on same sex marriage fails on low vote turnout. In: Reuters , October 7, 2018.