Only 24,000 Romanians Voted Abroad In Parliamentary Election

Voting by Romanians abroad for the country’s future Parliament was kick started Saturday evening (Romania time) by a priest in Wellington, New Zeeland, and ended with the vote of a limousine firm owner in Riverside, California, among the 24,000 Romanians who voted abroad.

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Romanians abroad stated voting Saturday at GMT 1800 and the first to vote was a 35 year-old priest in Wellington.

Although they were the first able to vote, Romanians in New Zeeland didn’t rush to the polls and only 21 of them paid a visit to the station set up by the Romanian Foreign Ministry in Wellington.

Next in line were Romanians in Australia, who had four polling stations in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, but turnout was low there as well and only about 200 people cast ballots.

Romania’s parliamentary election was a genuine marathon abroad, spanning over 35 hours.

Polls were closed by three Romanians in Riverside, California. The last voters were Pascu Lucian, 47, entrepreneur and owner of a limousine firm, and his son, Daniel Sarlea, 35, who is a pastor.

Turnout was low nearly in all polling stations opened abroad. In Seoul, South Korea, only 14 people voted and ballots were later annulled anyway as they contained the wrong candidates for that constituency. In Ireland, which hosts a significant Romanians community, only six people had cast ballots hours after the polls had opened.

In the Republic of Moldova, turnout was also low as only 2,300 people voted in capital Chisinau, where the Foreign Ministry had sent 54,000 ballots.

In Spain and Italy, where statistics indicate half a million Romanian residents in each country, turnout at the polls little over one percent (3,800 voters in Italy) and even below one percent (6,300 in Spain).

With the exception of the ballots annulled in Seoul, elections abroad saw no incidents.

The Romanian Foreign Ministry set up 221 polling stations abroad, compared to 181 for European parliament elections and the referendum in May 2007, and distributed 1,240,000 ballots.

Romanians abroad will be represented in the future parliament by four deputies and two senators.

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