Romanian Constitutional Court pushes decision on referendum validity to September to check electoral rolls

Romania's Constitutional Court, which was supposed to make a decision about the validity of the recent presidential impeachment referendum on Thursday (August 2 ), delayed the decision for more than a month, until September 12, according to Romanian media.

Meanwhile, president Traian Basescu, who was supposed to return to the helm of the country as the referendum was not valid after less than half of the voters attended, will remain suspended. The interim president Crin Antonescu will remain in charge, while the nine judges of the Constitutional Court deliberate over the result. The Court will have to check the electoral roll, after the Interior Ministry sent data about the 18.2 million registered voters. The recent referendum sparked debate, as it was based on the old statistics about Romania's voters, before the 2011 census. This, according to pundits, influenced the validity of the vote, which needed 50 percent plus one of the registered voters to pass. Otherwise, according to the law in place, with the referendum invalid, the suspended president returns to power. Only 46.24 percent of Romanians attended the referendum, on July 29, and 87.5 percent of them voted for the impeachment of the president, according to final official data. editor@romania-insider.com