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| Do you agree with the prohibition on amnesties and pardons for corruption offences?[1] | ||||||||||||||||
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| Do you agree with the prohibition of the approval by the Government of emergency ordinances in the field of offences, punishments and judicial organisation and with the extension of the right to directly appeal against the ordinances to the Constitutional Court?[1] | ||||||||||||||||
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 European Union portal |
A consultative referendum took place inRomania on 26 May 2019, on the same day as theEuropean Parliament elections, about whether to prohibit amnesties and pardons for corruption offences, as well as whether to prohibit the Government from passing emergency ordinances concerning the judiciary and to extend the right to appeal against them to theConstitutional Court.[1] Both proposals were approved by wide margins.
PresidentKlaus Iohannis signed the decree to hold the referendum on 25 April 2019, after theParliament had recommended in favour of this referendum in a non-binding vote on 17 April.[2] The first proposal for this referendum to be held was made in early 2017, in the wake of the controversial Ordinance 13 and subsequentprotests against corruption in Romania,[3] and President Iohannis announced his intention to hold a referendum on 23 January 2019. However, the procedure was suspended until 26 May 2019, when Iohannis decided to extend the issues to be voted on, requiring a new parliamentary procedure. On 4 April, Iohannis announced the issues of the referendum: prohibiting amnesties and pardons for corruption offences, as well as prohibiting the government from adopting emergency ordinances in the field of offences, punishments, and judicial organisation and giving other constitutional authorities the right to submit the ordinances to theConstitutional Court for further review.[4]
Before the parliamentary vote, PresidentKlaus Iohannis sent a letter to leaders of parliamentary parties in order to invite them to a consultation on the referendum, theAlliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) being the only party to decline the invitation.[5]Eugen Tomac, the leader of thePeople's Movement Party (PMP), proposed an additional question for the referendum on one out of three issues suggested by his party: abolishing special pensions, returning to atwo-round system for local elections, and lowering the number of MPs to 300.[6]
On 16 April 2019, the common judiciary committees of the two chambers of theParliament approved the referendum, theParliament did so the next day in a non-binding vote. PNL and USR accused thePSD of introducing multiple recommendations that had not been discussed in the judiciary committees. Even though the opposition requested the elimination of these recommendations, government MPs disagreed, thus the report was adopted with 259 votes in favour, 9 votes against and 1 abstention. It is shown, among others, in the report, that amnesties and pardons cannot be a citizens' initiative according to the Constitution, and that the President cannot trigger a legislative referendum according to aConstitutional Court ruling. However, the recommendations were eliminated following another parliamentary vote, that passed with 218 votes in favour, 11 votes against and 3 abstentions.[2]
On 25 April, the spokesperson of the Romanian Presidency, Mădălina Dobrovolschi, announced that PresidentKlaus Iohannis had signed the decree for the referendum and published the two questions to be voted on.
| Position | Political parties | Political orientation | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 YYes | National Liberal Party (PNL) | Conservative liberalism | [7] | |
| Save Romania Union (USR) | Anti-corruption | [8] | ||
| Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (PLUS) | Liberalism | [9] | ||
| People's Movement Party (PMP) | Christian democracy | [10] | ||
| Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ) | Hungarianminority politics | [11] | ||
| Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (FDGR/DFDR) | Germanminority politics | [12] | ||
 NBoycott | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) | Liberalism | [13] | |
| Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNȚCD) | Christian democracy | [14] | ||
| Ecologist Party of Romania (PER) | Green liberalism | |||
| Romanian Socialist Party (PSR) | Socialism | [15] | ||
 Neutral | Social Democratic Party (PSD) | Social democracy | ||
In an interview forAntena 3, the then leader of theSocial Democratic Party (PSD),Liviu Dragnea, stated that even though his party agrees with the referendum,there are many voices that say that the referendum is actually useless for the publicly expressed purpose and thatit actually is a way forKlaus Iohannis to get involved in the electoral campaign so that he can help parties around him.[16] A similar position was shown by theAlliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), the former junior partner in the bygone PSD-ALDE coalition government between 2017 and 2019, that announced its stance in a message onFacebook.
In order for the results to be valid, voter turnout was required to be above 30%, and the number of valid votes above 25% of the registered voters. Both thresholds were passed, validating the results.
| Question | Yes | No | Invalid/ blank | Total votes | Registered voters | Turnout | Result | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||||||||
| Prohibition of amnesties and pardons for corruption offences | 6,459,383 | 85.91 | 1,059,678 | 14.09 | 403,530 | 7,922,591 | 18,277,511 | 43.35% | Approved | ||||
| Emergency ordinances | 6,477,865 | 86.18 | 1,038,916 | 13.82 | 407,088 | 7,923,869 | 18,278,290 | 43.35% | Approved | ||||
| Source:First question,Second question | |||||||||||||
sunt multe voci care spun că referendumum de fapt este inutil pentru scopul prezentat public [...] de fapt este un mijloc prin care vrea să se implice în campanie electorală pentru a ajuta partidele care sunt în jurul dumnealui.
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