86,9% of Romanian active voters voted in favor of dismissing President Traian Basescu and 13% against it in the Sunday referendum, but voter turnout stood at 44.01% at 9 p.m., two hours before closing polls, according to an Operations Research exit poll presented by news channel Realitatea TV at 11.00 p.m..
50% plus one of the total number of listed voters in Romania have to cast their votes by 11 p.m. for the referendum to be validated, with President Basescu and his political supporters urging people not to attend the poll, which they call a "coup d'etat" attempt by the governing coalition.
A separate exit poll by CCSB company for Antena 3 news channel showed 84% of active voters voted in favor of the impeachment and 16% against it, with a turnout of 44% by 9 p.m.
UPDATE Preliminary turnout data for closing polls (11.00 p.m.) announced by the Central Electoral Office late in the night show 45.92% of the total number of listed voters cast their ballots in the referendum, less than the 50%+1 threshold for the referendum to be validated. The preliminary turnout data have a margin of +/-3%. Final data on the turnout and results of the referendum will be announced on Monday,
Read more on the Sunday referendum here
With official estimations and results for closing polls (11.00 p.m.) yet to be released, officials of the governing coalition of Social Democrats and Liberals (USL) appeared on Antena 3 news channel claiming that according to their own ballot count more than 50% of the population showed up and voted by 11.00 p.m., meaning that the referendum would be validated.
Later in the night, PM Victor Ponta refrained from giving party figures regarding the turnout as he held a speech congratulating the people who showed up and voted today. Ponta said the high turnout and the vote to dismiss the Preside
