Low voter turnout threatens to torpedo Romania's pro-Europe referendum

Low voter turnout was Sunday threatening to render invalid a landmark referendum in Romania to align the former communist state's constitution with European Union norms and open the way to joining the

Only 23.2 percent of the southeast European nation's 17.9 million registered voters had cast their ballots by noon Sunday (0900 GMT), the second and final day of the two-day referendum, election officials said.

This figure was less than half the 50 percent turnout needed to make the vote valid, election officials said.

In the capital Bucharest only 17.7 percent of the electorate had voted by noon Sunday.

At stake is Romania's joining western Europe and finally burying the legacy of economic and social ruin left by Nicolae Ceausescu's 25-year communist dictatorship that ended in 1989.

President Ion Iliescu called while casting his vote Saturday on Romanians to say "yes to the constitution, yes to European integration. To vote against the constitution is to vote for the isolation of our country."

Romania is hoping to join the EU in 2007, three years after a first wave of expansion to former communist eastern Europe brings in 10 new states, also including Cyprus and Malta.

The constitution being voted on has been re-written to bring it in line with EU legislation.

Sociologist Cristian Pirvulescu said if the referendum were invalid it would have "a negative impact on Romania's image. There is a certain expectation in Europe for this vote."

A failure of the referendum would also be a slap in the face for Nastase's government and could set off a political crisis, he added.

One of the main opposition forces, the Democrat Party called Sunday on the government to resign in order to get Romanians alienated by Prime Minister Adrian Nastase's "arrogant" administration to come out and vote.

The newspaper Evenimentul Zilei said the governing Social Democrat party was "panicked" and had called a video conference with local leaders to find ways to get people to vote.

"It is obvious that the authorities are not able to mobilize the population, even for a good cause," the daily said in an editorial, despite claims by election officials that cold and rainy weather on Saturday had discouraged people from voting.

But Social Democrat executive president Octav Cozmanca said he was "optimistic . . . that more than 60 percent of Romanians" would have voted by the time polls closed at 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) Sunday.

He said the low turnout so far was due to people having had to work on their farms for the first half of the weekend.

Social Democrat leaders called on priests to send people Sunday straight from mass to voting booths.

Romanians are being asked the question: "Do you agree with the new constitution?"

The constitution would replace one adopted in 1991, Romania's first post-communist charter.

The new basic law gives Romanian citizens the right to be elected to the European parliament and for Europeans to occupy certain public offices in Romania.

It also has a chapter called "Euro-Atlantic integration" that ratifies the "primacy of (EU) community laws over Romanian laws."

Iliescu said the new constitution would consolidate "civil freedoms and the rights of national minorities," as ethnic groups will be guaranteed the right to use their native tongues in dealing with the government and legal system.

First partial results from the vote are expected Monday morning. Final results are not expected before Tuesday evening.