Romania Justice Referendum Deals Blow to Ruling Party

In a clear blow to the ruling party, Romanians voted overwhelmingly on Sunday in favour of justice reform in a consultative referendum held at the same time as the European Parliament elections in which the party also fared badly.

Over 81.1 per cent of voters voted "yes" to two questions on the independence of the judicial system, according to provisional results reported by the Central Electoral Bureau. About 13.5 per cent voted "no", while 5 per cent of the votes were invalidated.

The referendum launched on April 25 by President Klaus Iohannis contained two questions: "Do you agree to ban amnesties and pardons for corruption offences?", and "Do you agree with a ban on the adoption by the government of emergency ordinances in the field of crimes, punishments and judicial organization and the extension of the right to appeal directly to the Constitutional Court?"

The referendum was the President's own initiative after the government led by the Social Democratic Party, PSD, repeatedly issued decrees intended to submit the judicial system to greater political control and modify the penal codes and justice laws in favour of softer sentences.

Several cases of corruption have involved high PSD officials, including party leader Liviu Dragnea.

"Today you have given a clear vote, a firm vote, a vote that cannot be ignored by any politician in Romania," Iohannis said in a video message soon after the closing of the polls.

The leader of the opposition National Liberal Party, PNL, Ludovic Orban, agreed. stating that after the referendum results, "starting from today, no leader has the right to dare to talk about justice amnesties, pardons, or making justice out of court through decrees."

PSD leader Dragnea, standing alone without his...