THE DYNAMICS OF THE ROMANIAN DIASPORA ELECTORAL ASSET
Keywords:
electoral asset, Diaspora, voting from abroad, migration, electoral rights.Abstract
The Romania’s turnout has experienced over the post-communist period a continuous deterioration. The highest official presence at the polls was 86.19% in 1990 presidential elections, while the lowest turnout was 26.51% in 2007 in the referendum on the uninominal vote. The absenteeism causes are many and complex and migration, temporary or permanent, is one of these. The likelihood that migrants have the interest and / or resources of go to vote is relatively low. However, the last elections in Romania were characterized by an increase of intensity of Diaspora’s electoral activity: the number of votes cast abroad increased from 43,882 in the 1992 presidential election (first round) to 379,116,2014 presidential elections (second round). Simultaneously importance of Diaspora voting has increased significantly: in 1992 the votes from abroad represented 0.35% votes of the total votes cast, in 2014 these votes accounted for 3.23%. This paper proposes an analysis structured on two dimensions: political asset and electoral asset of Romanian Diaspora. The political asset is understood both as political participation and the internalization of new dimensions of specific political culture of the host country. In this context the work aims to analyze the impact of the voting from abroad on Romanian elections.References
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