Financiarul

President Traian Basescu said in an interview with Radio Romania Actualitati (News) public radio on Tuesday that the NGOs had kept silent when he was speaking of the reform of the state institutions and he stressed that if they had backed him then, ‘we would have succeeded, perhaps, to make the required corrections to the constitution’.

When asked to comment on the fact that four NGOs accuse him that by holding a referendum on the same day with the presidential elections he allegedly violates the constitution, Basescu replied there is no violation of the fundamental law.

‘There is no violation of the constitution. We are speaking here of the president’s right to call a referendum and on the Romanians’ right to pronounce on a matter. There is no other more democratic form of making decisions than by consulting the people. As far as the NGOs are concerned, it is their problem and their approach. /…/ I was speaking of the reform of the state institutions and of the reform of the political class.

They kept silent. If they had backed me then, we would have succeeded, perhaps, to make the required corrections to the constitution. As such, I had no right to deceive the Romanians that I wanted to modernise the political institutions of the state/…/, while on the other hand not to use the tool I have available, that the constitution gives me, namely the president’s right to call the people to exercise its will, its sovereignty’, he stressed.

Basescu pointed out that organising a referendum is an ‘inalienable’ right of the president. When asked to comment the presidential contenders’ accusation that holding a referendum and elections on the same day could increase the suspicions of election rigging, he answered: ‘I’m afraid we are in a situation when the thieves shout ‘catch the thieves’. I have the right to call the people to exercise its sovereignty’.

He insisted the referendum will bring the president no extra votes, as the people will pronounce depending on their personal options. Basescu said that if re-elected, agriculture and tourism will be two priorities for him, alongside the reform of the state institutions. He stressed the women living in the rural area are ‘the most miserable among people’ and insisted that rural development is needed in order to provide those women jobs.

On Oct. 29, nongovernmental organisations Pro Democratia, Transparency International Romania, the Press Monitoring Agency and the Centre for Judicial Resources announced they would ask the Ombudsman to notify the Constitutional Court over holding a referendum on one-house Parliament on the same day with the elections for president. The four NGOs argued that such overlapping would put the presidential hopefuls at a disadvantage compared to incumbent Basescu, who seeks a fresh term.