The House of Deputies approved new changes to the referendum law on Tuesday that set a period of at least three months before referndums and establish a hierarchy for the judicial significance of suich votes. Thus a referendum for the suspension of the head of state is seen as most important, followed by referendums on national interest issues.
The approval clears another obstacle in the efforts of different-color MPs to launch a referendum to bring down President Traian Basescu, whom they accuse of several breaches to the Constitution. Basescu responded to the pressure recently by announcing his own plans to organize a referendum for the introduction of the uninominal vote in parliamentary elections - a national interest issue.
The changes were supported by 190 deputies belonging to the opposition Social Democrats, the Greater Romania Party, the Conservative Party, but also by Liberals and Hungarian Democrats, who are part of the governing coalition in Bucharest.
