Voting starts in Romania local elections

Duminică, 1 iunie 2008, 9:48 English | Politics

Booths opened across Romania on Sunday morning in a first round of local elections seen as a sign of what is to come in legislative elections later this year. Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. in the morning and will close at 9 a.m. Every voter will be handed four ballots - one for mayor, one for local council, one for county council and one for county council president.

These are the first local elections held in Romania after the country joined the EU in 2007. More than 15,000 European citizens are also listed with voting rights, according to Electoral Office data. Most of them are in Capital city Bucharest and the county of Timis, Western Romania.

Voting begins after a month of electoral campaign which failed to stand out before apathic voters across the country despite electoral stunts such as elephant promenades.

One of the more bitter fights take place in Bucharest where incumbent mayor Adriean Videanu is due to end his term, choosing not to run for a new one.