Romanians Apathetic on New Republic

Many Romanians shunned polling stations Sunday, turning their backs on a national vote called to endorse a new constitution that formally turns the country into a multi-party presidential republic.

It was the second time Romanians had voted freely since four decades of one-party Communist rule ended almost two years ago with the overthrow of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

In May, 1990, in Romania’s first democratic presidential and parliamentary elections in half a century, 86% of the electorate voted, handing a landslide victory to the National Salvation Front, which seized power in the revolution that ousted Ceausescu.

But turnout for Sunday’s referendum was low, with only 61% of the electorate of almost 16 million casting votes.

One place with a high turnout was the Jilava penitentiary in Bucharest, where 2,000 inmates, including former Communist Party chiefs, voted under the watchful gaze of prison guards.

But apathy over a constitution that most Romanians view as a fait accompli and calls by some opposition groups for a boycott, plus icy weather and snow, kept people at home.

The constitution guarantees political pluralism, a free market, ethnic and religious rights and other basic freedoms. But the opposition says it gives the president too much power to override the authority of an elected legislature.

The opposition National Peasant Party said the referendum should have tackled the question of restoring the monarchy, overthrown by Soviet-backed Communists in 1947.

“Today’s vote should have dealt with the issue of whether this country will be a republic or monarchy,” said Traian Pasca, 73, as he voted on Bucharest’s Carol Boulevard, named after the father of Romania’s last king, Michael, who lives in exile in Switzerland.

Sixty Romanian and foreign observers monitored the voting, official media said. There were no reports of serious foul play, but polling station management was lax in some places, a bad omen for local and national polls slated for early 1992.