April 2, 2022 UPDATE

A round up of local and international news.

România Internațional, 02.04.2022, 18:43

Resignation. Senate speaker Florin Cîţu resigned on Saturday as
president of the National Liberal Party in the ruling coalition, following
calls to this end from various local party leaders. The latter accused him of creating
divisions within the government coalition with the Social Democratic Party, of
not communicating with the party base and of a bad public image. They want
current prime minister Nicolae Ciucă to replace him. A respected career
military, Ciucă is, however, involved in a plagiarism scandal in connection to
his doctoral thesis. Cîţu was elected in September last year, when, with the
open backing of president Klaus Iohannis, he defeated Ludovic Orban in internal
elections the latter said were highly irregular. Ludovic Orban went on to form
a new party, the Force of the Right.

Refugees. More than 4.1 million Ukrainians have fled war in their
country following the Russian invasion on 24th February, the biggest
refugee wave in Europe since WWII. 90% of refugees are women and children, as
men eligible for military call-up are banned to leave the country. The UN
International Organisation for Migration said that more than 200,000
non-Ukrainians have also fled, some of them having difficulties returning to
their countries of origin. The UN also estimates that almost 6.5 million people
are displaced within Ukraine, which puts the number of people displaced at more
than a quarter of the country’s population. UNICEF says more than half of
Ukraine’s 7.5 million children have been displaced, either internally or
abroad. Before the conflict, Ukraine had
a population of 37 million in the regions under its control, excluding
Russia-annexed Crimea and the pro-Russian separatist regions in the east.

Hungary.
Parliamentary elections are taking place on Sunday in Hungary. According to
opinion polls, the conservative FIDESZ party has a slight lead over an alliance
of six opposition parties. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put the spotlight
on the relationship between FIDESZ leader and current prime minister Viktor Orban
and Russian president Vladimir Putin. Orban told his supporters Hungary will
send no weapons to Ukraine and will stay out of the war. Commentators say this
is the first time Orban, who has been in power since 2010, faces some threat in
elections, where he is opposed by an alliance of parties from across the
political spectrum. 90% of ethnic Hungarians living in neighbouringRomania and who also
have Hungarian citizenship are supporting Orban.

Serbia. Serb voters are going to polls on Sunday to elect their
president, parliamentarians and local officials. 8 candidates are running for
president. The latest ballot from June 2020 was boycotted by the opposition and
criticised by the European Commission for the disproportionate praise heaped by
the media on the ruling party. Opinion polls credit the Serbian Progressive
Party, in power, with more than 50% of voting intentions,
while a second term in office appears to be a mere formality for incumbent
president Aleksandar
Vucic. (CM)