Romanian President Basescu challenges constitutionality of Government's uninominal voting system

Romanian President Traian Basescu challenged the uninominal voting system proposed by a Government-supported bill at the Constitutional Court on Wednesday. According to Romanian law, Basescu was expected to have his say on the bill put forward by the government by November 26, a day after a referendum on the introduction of uninominal voting in Romania, in a different formula proposed by Basescu. But it is highly unlikely the Court will have an answer to Basescu’s challenge by then.

When he announced a referendum on the introduction of uninominal voting, Basescu had said he would not consider passing the government’s own bill until after the referendum. He said then that he would make use of all the legal procedures to postpone the promulgation.

At its turn, Romanian PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu said on Wednesday that the President’s decision to attack the law for which his government has assumed responsibility was regrettable. Tariceanu accused that Basescu was trying to established a ‘velvet dictatorship’, Romanian news agency NewsIn reports. The PM attacked the uninominal version proposed by the President, claiming that Basescu was planning to get an absolute majority in the Parliament.