Romania Foreign Minister Resigns Over Vote Scandal

Corlatean resigned on Monday amid anger over long queues and chaotic scenes when Romanians living abroad tried to cast ballots at the presidential polls on November 2.

His move came after tens of thousands of people protested in cities across the country at the weekend in support of Romanians living abroad who were not able to vote.

Outgoing President Traian Basescu on Saturday also said Corlatean should quit, after the foreign minister announced that more voting booths abroad would be made available for the second round of the vote on November 16, but there would be no increase in the number of polling stations.

Corlatean however said he stood by his decision.

"The foreign affairs ministry maintains its position that there is no legal basis for increasing the number of polling stations abroad," he said in a public statement following his resignation on Monday.

"I was pressured to allow extra polling booths ahead of the presidential election run-off. But I can't accept breaking the law, so I've decided to step down," he said.

Romania has a large diaspora. Over two million Romanians live or work abroad, mainly in Italy, Spain, Germany and France. Although only a fraction of them vote in elections, they have the power to influence the outcome.

Official data shows that around 160,000 Romanians voted abroad in the first round of the elections, but only 16 per cent of whom supported Victor Ponta, who came out ahead at the polls but did not win enough votes to triumph outright.

Almost half of the expatriates voted for Klaus Iohannis, the mayor of Sibiu and president of the opposition centre-right National Liberal Party.

Ponta and Iohannis will face each other in the second round.