After talking with PM Dancila, ForMin Melescanu says no resignation

Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu said on Wednesday evening that he had talks with Prime Minister Viorica Dancila on a request from President Klaus Iohannis regarding his removal from office for issues reported at the polling stations abroad for the May 26 European elections and referendum, but the conclusion was that there was no question of his resignation. "I personally discussed with Mrs Dancila, and there is no question of my resignation, as none at the level of the leadership of the party I belong to, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), or at the level of the government, have asked for my resignation," Melescanu underlined in an call-in on Antena 3 TV channel. At the same time, he said the number of such polling stations for this elections was "a world record". "We did everything we could - we set up for the first time 441 polling stations, a world record, 215 more than for the previous European elections. Also, at least 63 more than in the general or other elections," said Melescanu. He reiterated that the referendum called by President Klaus Iohannis actually made the voting process more difficult, because the time needed for a Romanian voter abroad to vote was greatly increased by the additional procedure of registering the voters in the referendum. "On May 24, I approved a minister order on polling stations abroad and, two weeks before the elections, the President decided to hold a referendum, and so the time in the elections abroad that were supposed to be for the European Parliament, which every citizen could complete in about two minutes - simply got multiplied to 6-7 minutes because there were two special lists to be filled in by those at the stations," Melescanu said. He also pointed out that according to the law, 30 days before the election day, the list of all polling stations abroad should be displayed by MAE. He said postal vote did not prove to be a functional variant, given that only 18,000 Romanians from abroad signed up for it with the Romanian diplomatic missions, the preliminary step to have the ballot papers mailed to them. At the same time, he said, the procedure of signing up with the Romanian diplomatic missions would also be mandatory if the electronic vote were to be used. Melescanu concluded that the solution he and ALDE propose in the run-up to the presidential election is to amend the law so that the voting abroad lasts a week before the election day in Romania, an idea that ALDE national chairman revealed on Wednesday. President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday urged immediate dismissal of the Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu and Interior Minister Carmen Dan over the way the elections were held. "After so many problems, it is obvious that there must be political consequences. Those who have not properly organised or even deliberately organised these elections poorly have to pay for with their offices. I mean political consequences. Finding subsequent issues is a matter we will discuss after a first analysis. Because they did not know to step down honourably, I am asking for immediate dismissal of the foreign minister and the interior minister, and immediate means immediate," Iohannis said at Cotroceni Palace. AGERPRES (RO - author: Marius Fratila, editor: Karina Olteanu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)