As Romanians elect their representatives to the European Parliament this Sunday, 36 polling stations will be opened in Moldova. Voters are expected at the ballot boxes from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has developed a Google-based map to help voters locate the closest polling stations.
Romanian citizens may vote outside Romania regardless of whether they reside in a foreign country or are just traveling. If they are listed to vote in a certain EU country, they may cast their ballot elsewhere only after signing off a declaration that they didn’t vote where they are listed.
Voters abroad may produce a wide range of identity documents to be allowed to vote, including a diplomatic passport, service passport, standard passport, or their electronic versions; temporary passport, identity card, temporary identity card, or electronic identity card. Voters are asked to check that they have a valid identification document on election day.
Currently Romania is represented in the European Parliament by 32 MEPs.
Parties are listed on the ballot paper in the following order: PSD, Alianța 2020 USR PLUS, Pro Romania Party, UDMR, PNL, ALDE, PRODEMO, PMP, the Romanian Socialist Party, the Independent Social Democratic Party, the United Romania Party, UNPR, and BUN. The list is closed by independent candidates in the following order: Gregoriana-Carmen Tudoran, George Nicolae Simion and Peter Costea.
There are eight political groups in the European Parliament, four of which can be considered pro-European. The largest now is the European People’s Party, that brings together a large number of national center-right and Christian-Democratic parties. Romania is represented in the EPP by the National Liberal Party, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania and the People’s Movement Party of the former president Traian Băsescu. The second largest group in the European Parliament are the center-left the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), which also includes the Romanian governing PSD. The third is the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), which is represented in Romania by PSD’s current coalition member ALDE party, of the Senate president Calin Popescu-Tariceanu. The fourth pro-European group is the Greens–European Free Alliance. The European Conservatives and Reformists group is considered Eurosceptic, without being anti-EU entirely. The European United Left is composed of communist and socialist parties that oppose the current political structure of the EU. Then there are the Eurosceptic group EFDD, and the far-right Europe of Nations and Freedom Group ENF.
On May 26, in parallel with the EU parliamentary election, Romanian will hold a national referendum, which asks two questions: “Do you support a ban on amnesty and pardon in cases related to corruption?” and “Do you support blocking the adoption by the executive of emergency ordinances that stipulate punishment for crimes and re-organize the judiciary, and (also support) extending the period of time during which these ordinances can be challenged in the Constitutional Court?”.
