Posted on 10/07/2018 2:15:48 PM PDT by Ennis85
A referendum to establish a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in Romania has failed - after only a fifth of voters bothered to turn out.
Romanians were being asked whether they wanted the constitution changed to specify that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.
But just 20.4% of eligible voters cast ballots - short of the 30% needed.
The result may come as a suprise, as a poll on Friday indicated support for the change was as high as 90%.
Mihai Gheorghiu, president of the pro-referendum Coalition for Family, told the BBC ahead of the vote they were trying "to protect, at a constitutional level, the definition of marriage - between one woman and one man".
But after two days of voting, it seems the No campaign's strategy - to boycott the vote in the hope the turnout fell below the 30% needed to validate the referendum - was successful.
However, in practice not much will change: Romania does not recognise gay marriage or civil unions.
Dan Barna, of the opposition Save Romania Union, the only major political party to oppose the referendum, called for the government's immediate resignation for "wasting €40m ($46m; £35m) of public money on a fantasy".
The ruling Social Democrats had strongly supported the referendum.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Support is not turnout. When will the pollsters get it?
Many of those voters may prefer the traditional definition of marriage, but do not think their vote will make any difference. Once the local bureaucracy thinks being PC will keep them in office, it is difficult to stop that train of thought from picking up speed. This happens a lot in my state of California.
On to the judges! (Sarcasm folks)
Romanians did not go to referendum because there was some hidden propositions on the ballot. One of them was that of decriminalize the abuse of power. The actual president of the Romanian Socialist Party and the president of the Representative Chamber recently got 3.5 years prison for abuse of power.
I’m quite sure this was calculated, as the opponents guaged the level of support and merely didn’t go to the polls - a veto by non-participation.
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