Romania local elections: How are the votes registered and counted & what were the main issues raised

All elections that have taken place in Romania in the last 30 years have been marked by fraud allegations and suspicions. Although the electoral process has improved and the use of new technologies has reduced the possibilities for tampering with the ballots, some problems still persist today. Before the count of the votes cast in the local elections was over, allegations of electoral fraud were made by all the main political parties. In Bucharest, USR-PLUS, PNL, and PSD, all alleged irregularities in the process of counting the votes.

More recently, departing mayor Gabriela Firea, who admitted her defeat in the elections, argued on Wednesday, September 30, that the ballots should be recounted in Bucharest, even though the deadline for such a request passed. She took issue with the voting minutes “where very many inconsistencies were found,” and with the differences in the numbers recorded in the voting minutes (process verbal – PV) and those listed on the website of the Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP), Digi24.ro reported. Similar issues were first raised by the USR-PLUS alliance, who alerted the Police on September 28 about a potential fraud. A Police investigation on this issue in the city’s District 1 is ongoing. By September 30, neither the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) nor AEP, the institution that organizes the elections, released any statements on the topic.