Romanians Would Oust Suspended President, Survey Shows

About 64 percent of Romanian voters will impeach suspended President Traian Basescu in a referendum later this month on whether he should be reinstated or ousted from office, according to a survey.

Approximately 27 percent of voters support Basescu’s reinstatement while 8.3 percent are undecided or didn’t want to take part in the survey, according to a poll by Bucharest-based polling company IMAS for radio station Europa FM. The July 5-7 survey of an unspecified number of voters had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Romanian lawmakers suspended Basescu last week amid accusations that he overstepped his duties when announcing state wage cuts in 2010 and other economic decisions. His popularity plunged after backing the austerity measures and Basescu’s political future will be decided in the referendum scheduled for July 29.

Parliament on June 26 approved a change in the law governing referenda, making a balloting for impeachment valid with a majority of participants rather than with more than 50 percent of eligible voters. The ruling coalition also limited the powers of the Constitutional Court by decree on July 4 to prevent it from impeding a presidential suspension procedure.

The opposition has challenged Parliament’s changes to the law at the court, which is expected to rule today, news service Mediafax reported yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Irina Savu in Bucharest at isavu@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net