Latest news with #AllianceforUnitingRomanians
Straits Times
07-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Romanian government to face no-confidence vote over deficit-lowering tax hikes
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox BUCHAREST - Romania's two-week-old broad coalition government is set to face a no-confidence vote as it seeks to speed through planned tax hikes that have triggered street protests even though they are needed to avert a ratings downgrade to below investment grade. Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan sought on Monday to fast-track parliamentary approval of the hikes from August in a procedure that exposes the government to a no-confidence vote. As part of the process, the opposition hard-right Alliance for Uniting Romanians, or AUR, Romania's second-largest party, has three days to file a no-confidence motion, which it has already said it will seek. The motion would only pass if lawmakers from the four pro-European parties that form the government and have so far supported the tax hikes side with the opposition. "My appeal to colleagues in the opposition is this: take part in improving decisions, not in blocking them," Bolojan told lawmakers. "The appeal to all Romanians is ... that we are aware these measures will be felt in the day-to-day life of a very large number of citizens. We are working to shorten as much as possible the difficult period Romania will face." Romania ran four election campaigns last year, including a divisive presidential ballot that was cancelled and re-run this May. It had the highest budget deficit - 9.3% of economic output - in the European Union. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Eligible S'poreans to get up to $850 in GSTV cash, up to $450 in MediSave top-ups in August Singapore Four golf courses to close by 2035, leaving Singapore with 12 courses Singapore Singapore's second mufti Sheikh Syed Isa Semait dies at age 87 Singapore Fewer marriages in Singapore in 2024; greater marital stability for recent unions Singapore Competition watchdog gives SIA, M'sia Airlines conditional approval to continue cooperation Singapore About 20 delivery riders meet Pritam Singh to discuss platform worker issues Business OCBC sets loan target of $5b and covers more territories in boost for serial entrepreneurs Singapore Reform Party to leave opposition group People's Alliance for Reform; two parties remain The tax hikes, which were made public last week, have been criticised by employers and unionists alike and thousands of public sector workers have staged protests. The government will raise value added tax, excise duties and increase taxes including on dividends and banks' turnover. The impact is expected to be 9.5 billion lei ($2.21 billion) in 2025 and 35 billion lei ($8.14 billion) in 2026. An opinion survey released on Monday by pollster INSCOP Research showed the AUR would win 40% of votes in an election, whereas the ruling Social Democrats, currently the largest party in parliament, would get 13.7%. REUTERS
Times
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
Populist leads in fractious Romanian election rerun
A nationalist, eurosceptic candidate looked set to win the first round of voting in Romania's presidential election on Sunday, five months after an earlier vote was scrapped over alleged Russian meddling. George Simion, the leader of the radical right Alliance for Uniting Romanians party (AUR), took a leading share of between 30 and 33 per cent of votes, according to exit polls, and will now face the second-placed candidate in a run-off for the presidency on May 18. Exit polls indicated that the centrist Crin Antonescu of the ruling Social Democratic Party and the Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan, running as a centrist independent candidate, were in a close battle for the runner-up spot, each on about 21 to 23 per cent. The election was closely
Irish Times
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Romanian presidential vote favourite says he will bring back banned far-right contender
Romanian hard-right politician George Simion has said that if he wins the country's presidential election, he could restore banned presidential contender Calin Georgescu to a leadership post. Mr Simion, a Eurosceptic nationalist, was leading in opinion polls going into Sunday's first round of voting five months after the original vote in the EU and Nato state was cancelled because of alleged Russian interference in favour of Mr Georgescu. Moscow denies the allegation. Mr Simion took over after Mr Georgescu was banned from standing due to criminal charges over campaign funding and membership of a fascist organisation, charges he denies. Anger at the cancellation and charges has helped fuel Mr Simion's campaign. 'There are several ways in which, if the Romanian people want, Mr Georgescu can be in the leadership, and we will use it,' Mr Simion told foreign reporters on Sunday. READ MORE 'We can form a majority and have him as a prime minister; we can have snap elections, or we can call for a referendum,' Mr Simion said, without specifying what referendum he was considering. While the president nominates the prime minister, he cannot legally interfere with attempts to form ruling majorities. A snap election, triggered if parliament rejects two proposed cabinets within 60 days, looks unlikely as it has never happened before, with lawmakers traditionally finding a way forward, however fractious. Romania held a parliamentary election on December 1st last, in which Mr Simion's Alliance for Uniting Romanians and two other hard-right groupings won some 35 per cent of seats. Even so, the prospect of a Georgescu-led government could unsettle investors, as he has repeatedly said he favoured nationalisations and preferential treatment for Romanian companies. Mr Simion is polling at about 30 per cent, a comfortable lead but well short of the 50 per cent he needs to avoid a run-off on May 18th. His main rivals are two centrists with opinion surveys suggesting both could defeat Mr Simion in the second round. – Reuters
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Romanian voters again turn to TikTok for guidance in rerun of annulled election
By Elizaveta Gladun and Octav Ganea BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Many young Romanians are again scrolling through video-sharing platform TikTok for guidance on how to vote in Sunday's rerun of a presidential election annulled over allegations of Russian meddling via suspicious TikTok accounts. With around 9 million TikTok users, the nation of 19 million people experienced a surge in such accounts last year during a campaign that eventually led to the annulment of the Nov. 24 election. Moscow has denied the allegations of manipulation. In the first round of that cancelled election on Nov. 24, far-right candidate Calin Georgescu, who had been polling in single digits before the ballot, rose into first place amid an explosion of content on TikTok that favoured him. Now, George Simion, leader of the radical right Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR), tops the presidential candidate list with 1.3 million followers on TikTok. Lagging far behind with about 233,600 followers is Victor Ponta, a former leftist prime minister whose politics have turned ultranationalist. The remaining, centrist candidates have even fewer followers. The 38-year-old Simion's TikTok films combine nationalist rhetoric with an emotionally charged delivery and often use direct-to-camera speeches, footage from political gatherings and behind-the-scenes clips to hone a sense of personal connection. "The time for rebirth has come," he told followers in a video posted on Tuesday. "Our nation will find its way again ... We have within us the power to be reborn and to move forward, more united and stronger." Remus Stefureac, chief executive of INSCOP Research, said all the presidential candidates now appreciated the pivotal role of social media in campaigning. "If we analyse our presidential campaign..., we can say that each and every one of the relevant candidates tried to build strong operations online and on social media, so they invested a lot of their resources in this type of campaign," he said. YOUNG AUDIENCE TikTok's Romanian audience is predominantly young: 64.6% are aged 18–24 and 33.7% are aged 25–34, according to a mobile advertising platform that analyses app-based user data. Young people interviewed by Reuters in downtown Bucharest this week said they obtained information from various online sources, among them TikTok. Andrei, an engineer who declined to give his full name, said he trusted what he saw on TikTok to a limited extent, though news media sites seemed more credible. He said around a third of people he knew based their political decisions on TikTok material. Andreea, a student who also withheld her full name, said she was influenced politically largely by TikTok videos. She had watched many TikTok political videos and they had helped her feel closer to the lives of candidates. TikTok says it has formed a task force to ensure effective moderation of content and has launched a media literacy campaign to help users spot disinformation. In January, the company said it had blocked more than 116,000 spam accounts from being created in Romania during the second half of December. It also said in a recent report that during the second half of 2024 it had removed over 27,000 accounts operated via a "fake engagement vendor" that had promoted the AUR and Georgescu. Romania's government has ordered that campaign materials on social media be clearly labelled as such, while local media said the Central Electoral Bureau had ordered the removal of over 500 unverified or mislabelled posts. In the wake of the annulled election, the European Commission opened formal proceedings against TikTok over its suspected failure to limit interference in the vote. Stefureac said Romania's experience from 2024 should serve as a lesson for the future of democracy worldwide - "that we cannot take our democracies for granted and we need to find ways to better control and moderate how political and electoral communication is managed through social media".
CNA
01-05-2025
- Politics
- CNA
Romanian voters again turn to TikTok for guidance in rerun of annulled election
BUCHAREST : Many young Romanians are again scrolling through video-sharing platform TikTok for guidance on how to vote in Sunday's rerun of a presidential election annulled over allegations of Russian meddling via suspicious TikTok accounts. With around 9 million TikTok users, the nation of 19 million people experienced a surge in such accounts last year during a campaign that eventually led to the annulment of the Nov. 24 election. Moscow has denied the allegations of manipulation. In the first round of that cancelled election on Nov. 24, far-right candidate Calin Georgescu, who had been polling in single digits before the ballot, rose into first place amid an explosion of content on TikTok that favoured him. Now, George Simion, leader of the radical right Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR), tops the presidential candidate list with 1.3 million followers on TikTok. Lagging far behind with about 233,600 followers is Victor Ponta, a former leftist prime minister whose politics have turned ultranationalist. The remaining, centrist candidates have even fewer followers. The 38-year-old Simion's TikTok films combine nationalist rhetoric with an emotionally charged delivery and often use direct-to-camera speeches, footage from political gatherings and behind-the-scenes clips to hone a sense of personal connection. "The time for rebirth has come," he told followers in a video posted on Tuesday. "Our nation will find its way again ... We have within us the power to be reborn and to move forward, more united and stronger." Remus Stefureac, chief executive of INSCOP Research, said all the presidential candidates now appreciated the pivotal role of social media in campaigning. "If we analyse our presidential campaign..., we can say that each and every one of the relevant candidates tried to build strong operations online and on social media, so they invested a lot of their resources in this type of campaign," he said. YOUNG AUDIENCE TikTok's Romanian audience is predominantly young: 64.6 per cent are aged 18–24 and 33.7 per cent are aged 25–34, according to a mobile advertising platform that analyses app-based user data. Young people interviewed by Reuters in downtown Bucharest this week said they obtained information from various online sources, among them TikTok. Andrei, an engineer who declined to give his full name, said he trusted what he saw on TikTok to a limited extent, though news media sites seemed more credible. He said around a third of people he knew based their political decisions on TikTok material. Andreea, a student who also withheld her full name, said she was influenced politically largely by TikTok videos. She had watched many TikTok political videos and they had helped her feel closer to the lives of candidates. TikTok says it has formed a task force to ensure effective moderation of content and has launched a media literacy campaign to help users spot disinformation. In January, the company said it had blocked more than 116,000 spam accounts from being created in Romania during the second half of December. It also said in a recent report that during the second half of 2024 it had removed over 27,000 accounts operated via a "fake engagement vendor" that had promoted the AUR and Georgescu. Romania's government has ordered that campaign materials on social media be clearly labelled as such, while local media said the Central Electoral Bureau had ordered the removal of over 500 unverified or mislabelled posts. In the wake of the annulled election, the European Commission opened formal proceedings against TikTok over its suspected failure to limit interference in the vote. Stefureac said Romania's experience from 2024 should serve as a lesson for the future of democracy worldwide - "that we cannot take our democracies for granted and we need to find ways to better control and moderate how political and electoral communication is managed through social media".
