Romania’s confusing day at the polls

The decision to hold a referendum on the same day as Romania holds its first European Parliament elections is confusing the electorate, writes Ana Jitărită.

Romanians vote to elect their 35 members of the European Parliament on 25 November, but a lethargic campaign, the media’s weak coverage of the elections and the decision to hold a controversial referendum on the same day as the polls have made the first European elections in Romania a non-event.

After much ado, the country’s President Traian Basescu called a referendum on a new system of voting, which would see people vote for their local candidates, not only on national party lists. The campaign for the referendum on the uninominal vote, which is much more prominent than the one for the European elections has been allocated distinct TV slots. The two votes will have different electoral bureaux and separate ballots.

But the combination of the two votes has managed to confuse many Romanians.

The European elections have been a puzzling matter from the outset in Romania. The country, which joined the EU on 1 January and must organise elections for the European Parliament before the end of the year, had first planned to hold the European polls in May. But the government decided to postpone them, which many observers said was because Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu’s Liberal party got cold feet when they saw the opinion polls.

Some of the MEPs who joined the European Parliament on 1 January will run in the election. But Romanian political parties mostly threw second-tier politicians into the ring. This contributed to making the campaign even duller, as the candidates have hardly caught the media’s attention.

Theodor Stolojan (who created a splinter Liberal party, the PLD), a former prime minister and senior World Bank official, Daniel Daianu (National Liberal Party), an ex-finance minister, Renate Weber (Democratic Party), a former presidential adviser on external politics, and George Becali (New Generation Party), a colourful business man who owns the country’s most famous football club, Steaua Bucharest, are well-known, not only for their political activity, but also for their fortunes. Becali estimates his fortune at €3 billion, while Stolojan, a seasoned investor, is one of the richest retired people in Romania.

Three political parties are likely to share most of the seats in the European Parliament. According to an opinion poll published on 26 October, President Basescu’s Democrat party is likely to get 35% of the vote, the opposition Social Democrat party 24% and the prime minister’s Liberal party 12%. The nationalist Greater Romania Party is also expected to win seats.

Brussels’s political cheerleaders, who went to Romania in recent weeks to support their candidates, have failed to boost the media’s interest in this lacklustre campaign. Joseph Daul, the leader of the European People’s Party-European Democrats (EPP-ED) group and Graham Watson, the leader of the Liberal (ALDE) group in the European Parliament have tried to influence the political debate in their visits to Romania. Hans-Gert Pöttering, the president of the European Parliament, also made a trip to tell Romanians how important it was to vote in the first European elections.

"I’m truly disappointed for the poor debate. Only the public television has a short broadcast on this issue. It’s almost like a quiz show," says Monica Iacob Ridzi, a candidate for the Democrats and current MEP. Number four on her party’s list, Iacob Ridzi, who is just 30, is almost certain to be elected.

The Democrat Party is using the popularity of Basescu, the party’s informal leader (presidents are expected to be politically neutral), to boost its electoral standing. Its electoral poster looks like a graduation photo, where the main candidates are the first "graduates of the new political class" and in the middle of the poster, on an empty frame, the inscription "The class master is busy right now with the referendum".

While candidates claim that the "master of the class" refers to the party’s president, Emil Boc, anyone seeing the poster would think that the picture of President Ba˘sescu, is the one missing from the frame.

Titus Corlatean, the top candidate on the Social Democrats list, says that this campaign is the starting point for teaching the people about the European Union. "People don’t know what’s all this stuff related with Europe. We have to teach them the European Union ABC and why Brussels is so important to us," he says. The Social Democrats’ campaign focuses on traditional centre-left themes - secure and well-paid jobs, raising the income of families that live only from their salary, pensions based on the economic growth - with little reference to European issues. Corlatean says that he has been visiting big cities, to talk to young or retired people, and he claims that his agenda is full until the end of the campaign.

Renate Weber, the top Liberal candidate, says she is disappointed with the media’s lack of interest in the European elections and the lack of information about the EU.

"Door-to-door campaign seems to be the most efficient way to the poll’s heart. I am every day in another city and I am talking about real themes: free movement of labour, Common Agricultural Policy and what impact the European Parliament has on EU legislation."

According to a public opinion poll published in September, 49% of voters are "absolutely sure" that they will vote in the European election, with less than 18% saying that they will not participate. This would still be above the European average - the latest European elections, in 2004, only brought 45% of the European electorate to the ballot, with a pitifully low turnout of 17% in new member state Slovakia.

But voter turnout in Romania may be lower than predicted. In addition to domestic political issues overshadowing the European polls, politicians and people feel that the stakes are not high: the MEPs elected on 25 November will serve only one and a half years, until the next European election of June 2009, and not a full five-year term.

For the Romanian political class, the European elections are, first and foremost, a test for next year’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

Celebrity candidates

Political parties have put many celebrities in the list for the next European elections. Roberta Anastase, the candidate in second position on the Democrat party list, is a former Miss Romania. Lavinia Sandru, the top candidate for the National Initiative Party, is a former actress, while Mihai Leu, who was thrown into the ring by the Conservative party, is a former boxing world champion.

Maybe the most controversial politician involved in the campaign is George ‘Gigi’ Becali, the top candidate of the New Generation Party (PNG). The multi-billionaire owner of Steaua football club is well-known as an anti-gay, religious, nationalist and xenophobic political figure. Despite his humble beginning as a shepherd, Becali made his fortune in the real-estate business.

A former football goalkeeper, Helmut Dukadam, known as the ‘Seville hero’ for defending four consecutive penalties in a match, is also running on PNG’s list.

The Roma Party put on the list a well-known musician, Elena Onoriu, while László Tökés, a bishop and a hero of the Romanian revolution, is the only independent candidate.

The decision to hold a referendum on the same day as Romania holds its first European Parliament elections is confusing the electorate, writes Ana Jitărită.