As a Romanian, I'm both scared and excited for our Moldovan siblings - I've seen some really nasty stuff from the pro-Russian side and I fear it might escalate into violence if the presidential...
As a Romanian, I'm both scared and excited for our Moldovan siblings - I've seen some really nasty stuff from the pro-Russian side and I fear it might escalate into violence if the presidential elections don't go their way.
However I remain hopeful Maia Sandu will win the election and fulfill the promise she made to her people. It will also bring Moldova even closer to Romania, and maybe in 10-20 years we might consider unification again, to repair the last few scars we have left from the Soviet era.
Moldovans voted by a razor-thin majority in favor of securing the country’s path toward European Union membership, electoral data showed Monday, after the pro-Western president accused foreign interference and “criminal groups” of trying to undermine the vote in the former Soviet republic.
The “No” vote appeared to be ahead until the last few thousand votes were counted from the large diaspora of Moldova, whose authorities have accused Russia of trying to destabilize the country.
With 99.41% of votes counted in the EU referendum held Sunday, the “Yes” vote stood at 50.39% and the “No” vote at 49.61%, according to the Central Electoral Commission.
A loss would have been a political disaster for the pro-Western government, which strongly supported the pro-EU campaign.
On Monday, President Maia Sandu reiterated claims that unprecedented voter fraud and foreign interference had undermined the voting, calling it a “vile attack” on Moldova’s sovereignty.
This vote is so mind-mindbogglingly close. Hopefully the vote is triple counted, verified, certified and easy to understand. It's interesting to see how Moldovans respond to such a narrow victory....
This vote is so mind-mindbogglingly close. Hopefully the vote is triple counted, verified, certified and easy to understand. It's interesting to see how Moldovans respond to such a narrow victory.
I think in the US, there would be a lot of violence if the vote was so close this year, especially if the electoral college decided the opposite of the majority vote.
I cannot imagine a scenario where it's a good idea to make constitutional amendments based on such a narrow majority win. Sixty-six percent is a much better litmus test to me.
I cannot imagine a scenario where it's a good idea to make constitutional amendments based on such a narrow majority win. Sixty-six percent is a much better litmus test to me.
Raising the requirement for a referendum above 50% is more often used anti-democratically than the reverse -- the Republican state legislature in my home state of Ohio famously tried to do this...
Raising the requirement for a referendum above 50% is more often used anti-democratically than the reverse -- the Republican state legislature in my home state of Ohio famously tried to do this because they knew the abortion rights amendment would pass above 50% but not 60%.
Edit to add: is this a constitutional amendment anyway? I didn't see that in this article but it's possible I overlooked it.
As a Romanian, I'm both scared and excited for our Moldovan siblings - I've seen some really nasty stuff from the pro-Russian side and I fear it might escalate into violence if the presidential elections don't go their way.
However I remain hopeful Maia Sandu will win the election and fulfill the promise she made to her people. It will also bring Moldova even closer to Romania, and maybe in 10-20 years we might consider unification again, to repair the last few scars we have left from the Soviet era.
This vote is so mind-mindbogglingly close. Hopefully the vote is triple counted, verified, certified and easy to understand. It's interesting to see how Moldovans respond to such a narrow victory.
I think in the US, there would be a lot of violence if the vote was so close this year, especially if the electoral college decided the opposite of the majority vote.
I cannot imagine a scenario where it's a good idea to make constitutional amendments based on such a narrow majority win. Sixty-six percent is a much better litmus test to me.
Raising the requirement for a referendum above 50% is more often used anti-democratically than the reverse -- the Republican state legislature in my home state of Ohio famously tried to do this because they knew the abortion rights amendment would pass above 50% but not 60%.
Edit to add: is this a constitutional amendment anyway? I didn't see that in this article but it's possible I overlooked it.
The referendum is on adding a provision about striving to join the EU (or something along those lines) into the constitution.
ah okay, it wasn't super clear to me from the text of this article what the referendum entailed beyond just being pro-joining the EU.