December 10, 2016

Parliamentary elections will be held on Sunday in Romania.

Newsroom, 10.12.2016, 13:53

ACCIDENT – At least five people have been killed and dozens of others have been injured today in north-eastern Bulgaria, after a train derailed and containers of gas exploded, local police sources announced. At least 20 buildings in the village of Hitrino were destroyed in the blast early on Saturday as containers carrying liquefied petroleum gas exploded. The cause of the disaster is unclear. As many as 25 people were taken to hospital, some of them in very serious condition. Prime Minister Boiko Borisov has travelled to the site of the accident.

ELECTIONS – The campaign for the Romania parliamentary elections has ended today. Over 18 million people are expected to go to the polls, in 43 constituencies, of which 41 in counties, one in Bucharest and another one for the Romaians with the domicile or residence outside the country’s borders. The voting process has already started in the Diaspora, that will be represented by 2 senators and 4 deputies, as the Romanian citizens with the domicile or residence abroad who had registered in the Electoral Registry received the ballot papers by post. This is the first time that postal voting is allowed for Romanians outside the country’s borders. Also for the first time, the vote counting will be recorded on camera.

CONSULTATIONS – Italian President Sergio Mattarella is today holding consultations with representatives of the Democratic Party on forming a new government. The resignation of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, following the failure of the constitutional referendum last Sunday, has given way to a period of political uncertainty in Italy, which puts at risk national economy and the Euro-zone’s stability, news agencies report. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent, the President has to decide if early elections should be called or not.

Syria – Russia has said that the Syrian governments troops control 93% of Aleppo and will continue military operations against the rebels after the full evacuation of civilians. Russian and American diplomats are today discussing in Geneva about the situation in Aleppo. The UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has said that the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, will have to consider sharing power if he wants peace. On Friday the Syrian Government announced they were ready for discussions, although they have constantly refused to discuss Assad’s future or the option of sharing power , BBC has said.

HANDBALL – Romania’s national women’s handball team defeated Croatia on Friday evening, 31-26 and qualified from the second place to the main groups of the European Championship in Sweden. In the first two games Romania lost to Norway, European champions and world defending champions, and defeated Russia, Olympic champion. On Sunday Romania will be up against Hungary in the first game of the main groups. On December 13 Romania will play against the Czech Republic and a day later against Denmark. The Romanian team’s coach is the Spanish Ambros Martin who last month replaced Swedish Tomas Ryde with whom Romania had won the bronze at the 2015 World Championship in Denmark.

(Translated by Elena Enache)