In a press conference on Friday evening, president Traian Basescu once again called Romanians to participate in the referendum this weekend, organized in order to change the electoral system from voting party lists to two-ballots uninominal voting. The referendum is organized during the same day as the elections for the European Parliament.

Basescu argued that, through voting, Romanians will elect their legitimate representatives in the European Parliament (EP) and thus contribute to improving the poor image Romania has abroad.

"A low participation will show clearly that Romanians don't support their own representatives in the EP. Even more, Romania currently suffers from its image problems. We have information about corruption acts of government members and we deal with a negative media campaign because of the crimes committed by Romanian citizens in other countries".