The head of the Central Electoral Office, judge Dumitru Gheorghe, officially announced that 28.5% of Romanian voters voted in the Romanian referendum to dismiss President Traian Basescu by 5.00 p.m. on Saturday. The presence at urban voting stations stood at 30.2%, while rural stations received only 27.11% of potential votes there.

The highest participation rate was recorded in the county of Brasov (35.7%), Constanta (35.2%), Sibiu (34%), Cluj (33.1) and Bucharest - (33.8%).

According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, only 19.774 people voted in referendum sections abroad by 4 p.m. today, with the highest count reported in Spain (3,543 people), Italy and the Moldovan Republic.

Voting is already over in Australia, China, Japan and other Far East countries.

During the first round of elections in 2004, 27.18% of the electors voted before 14:00h, the day ending with a final percentage of 57.1%.

According to the recent modifications to the Referendum Law, Traian Basescu may be suspended with 50%+1 of the votes expressed, instead of the same number from the total number of electors.

Still, in order to be validated, the participation has to pass the 50%+1 of electors minimum limit. Some 18 million Romanians have the right to vote in today's referendum.