Romanian presidential impeachment referendum, 2007

Romanian presidential impeachment referendum
Romanian: Sunteți de acord cu demiterea Președintelui României, domnul Traian Băsescu? English: Do you agree with the dismissal of the President of Romania, Mr. Traian Băsescu?
Results Votes  % Yes 2,013,099 7001249400000000000♠24.94% No 6,059,315 7001750600000000000♠75.06% Valid votes 8,072,414 7001992300000000000♠99.23% Invalid or blank votes 62,858 6999770000000000000♠0.77% Total votes 8,135,272 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 18,301,309 7001444500000000000♠44.45%
Results by county   Yes 60–62.5%   Yes 57.5–60%   Yes 55–57.5%   Yes 52.5–55%   Yes 50–52.5%   No 50–52.5%   No 52.5–55%   No 55–57.5%   No 57.5–60%   No 60–62.5%   No 62.5–65%   No 65–67.5%   No 67.5–70%   No 70–72.5%   No 72.5–75%   No >75%
Referendum held: 19 May 2007 Source: Biroul Electoral Central

The Romanian presidential impeachment referendum of 2007 was conducted in order to determine whether the president of Romania Traian Băsescu should be forced to step down.

On 19 April 2007 the Romanian parliament suspended Băsescu. As the Constitutional Court of Romania acknowledged the Parliament's vote on the following day, Băsescu remained suspended from the position of president until the referendum would clarify the situation. It took place on 19 May 2007 and confirmed that the impeachment should not stand. 24.75% voted to impeach Băsescu, while 74.48% wanted to keep him in office.

Although not impeached, Băsescu is the first president in the history of Romania who has been officially suspended.

In early 2007, Băsescu was proposed for impeachment by the members of the opposition parties for allegedly unconstitutional conduct. One of the major issues in the confrontation was the activity of justice minister Monica Macovei, who politicized the prosecutors appointment, taking it away from the Superior Council of Magistrature and assigning it to herself and the president. Among the main reasons given in the proposal to suspend Băsescu were:

Băsescu and his supporters denied the accusations, stating that his actions and statements were ways of fighting against corruption in the political and judicial systems and against "circles of business interests" with unlawful purposes.

The Constitutional Court of Romania found no clear evidence of his breach of the constitution in the sense required by the fundamental law. However, the court ruling was only consultative and the two chambers of the parliament voted in favor of Băsescu's impeachment on 19 April 2007, with 322 votes for the impeachment proposal, 108 against it and 8 abstentions (the minimum number of votes needed was 233). Băsescu contested the decision, but the constitutional court rejected his appeal as inadmissible and upheld the vote.

In the meantime, Macovei and several other ministers which supported the president were dismissed by prime minister Popescu-Tăriceanu, while the European election has been postponed until at least the fall of 2007. The pro-president media have characterized the anti-Băsescu coalition as the "black alliance," noting that it contained both Social-Democrats and National-Liberals, Hungarian minority MPs and ultra-nationalists.

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Wikipedia