NGO head: price of vote in Romania local elections rises to 800-1000 euro

Duminică, 1 iunie 2008, 20:57 English | Politics

Romanian NGO the Pro Democratia Association (APD) says there are suspicions of bought votes in the current local elections and that the price of a vote might have went as high as 800-1,000 euro especially in areas with major economic interests, APD executive head Anamaria Mosneagu said during a special edition of the weekly HotNews.ro-BBC talk-show.

She said that in her opinion the low turnout in the local elections on Sunday (23% by 2 p.m.) showed the measure of disillusionment among people towards the existing political offer and parties.

Referring to the situation in Stefanesti, near Bucharest, where supporters of two parties sieged two polling stations on Sunday raising suspicions they were paid to vote, Ioana Lupea, an analyst for Romanian newspaper Evenimentul ZIlei, said during the talk-show it was an isolated incident but fell in line with trends that showed higher voters turnout in areas close to Bucharest. The areas have been luring major investments and interests in real estate properties.