Romanian court ruling on referendum expected by end of August

The Constitutional Court of Romania decided on Friday to bring forward a key debate from September 12 to August 31 to rule on the legality of a referendum held to impeach President Traian Basescu. Following a plenary sitting on Friday, the top court said it decided to move the initial date set for debating the cause "taking into account that the deadline given to the government to refer the updated permanent voters lists is August 31." On Sunday, a national referendum was held to oust Basescu. It failed to produce the minimum 50 percent voter turnout to make the results binding. The president could theoretically stay in office, pending a final decision from the Constitutional Court. However, Basescu's political foes, including Prime Minister Victor Ponta, Interim President Crin Antonescu and their Social Liberal Union, argued that the number of registered voters in Romania was outdated and should be smaller. The Constitutional Court began its debates on certifying the referendum on Wednesday, soon after it received the final results from the Central Election Bureau and the challenges of the Social Liberal Union. However, it had to postpone its decision as result of contrasting data sent by the Ministry of Administration and the Interior, the Permanent Electoral Authority and the National Institute of Statistics. On July 6, the Romanian parliament approved an impeachment request against Basescu submitted by the Social Liberal Union, a ruling alliance that came to power three months ago, made up of the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Conservative Party. During Sunday's referendum, the president's power was suspended and an interim president was named. Basescu and his main supporter, the Democrat Liberal Party, called for a boycott of the referendum -- a tactic that seemed to have worked. This is the second time Basescu faced an impeachment referendum. He was impeached in 2007 but survived a national referendum with the support of over 74 percent of voters. Some analysts are skeptical about Basescu's chances of returning to power. Others say his popularity will decline even if he goes back to the presidential palace. Enditem