sdavideo
AP: Rumänien: Referendum zu Homo-Ehe scheitert an schwacher Beteiligung
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Romanian marriage redefinition referendum voided due to low turn-out
SHOTLIST:
ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP CLIENTS ONLY
Bucharest, 8 Oct 2018
1. Various of newspaper kiosk and headlines that read "boycott succeeded" and "failure"
2. Various of University and students
3. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Paula Catina, student:
"I'm happy with the result of the referendum because I boycotted it myself and I noticed Romania made it, we are together and we didn't pass this referendum and I'm proud that we showed that we care about European Union values."
4. Newspaper headlines
5. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Vlad Cioranu, student:
"I'd say this is a bad result because people have got to vote because this is their supreme right, with which they can influence decisions taken by the state, regardless if they would have voted 'yes' or 'no'. "
6. Students in front of university
7. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Cristian Parvulescu, commentator:
"This referendum was about only one article but was very politicised in the favour of certain politicians so the answer from Romanian society was simple; we don't play these political games. A message was also transmitted to the Orthodox Church, the church must take care of religious problems and not political ones and therefore for a while now, the political ambitions of the church will get moderated. A message was transmitted to neo-protestant groups very active in the government coalition that it's not the kind of problem Romania cares about. All this was a problem to Romanians that had other priorities rather than this one. If this modification would have been introduced in a broader and less conservative and anti-European context- maybe it would have passed."
8. Cutaway cat
9. Various of Florin Buhuceanu at his home, with cat
10. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Florin Buhuceanu, LGBT activist:
"(The result of referendum) is a victory for the whole country not only for us, those who initiated the boycott campaign, it is a victory for Romania also because this brings us to a European context based on rights and freedoms for everybody, for all types of families, not only for some."
11. Cutaway cat
12. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Florin Buhuceanu, LGBT activist
"Romanians gave a very clear signal that they won't tolerate the meddling of the Orthodox Church in the legislative domain. This space of lawmakers belongs to parliament, it is there that laws are made and we don't use referenda to vote about rights."
13. Cutaway cat
14. Various of newspaper headlines
STORYLINE:
A referendum held in Romania on the definition of marriage has been invalidated as not enough people cast ballots, rendering the vote void.
Election officials said just 20.41 percent of eligible voters participated in the weekend referendum, which needed at least 30 percent turnout to be valid.
The failed amendment would have changed the definition of family in Romania's Constitution to make it a union between a man and a woman instead of between "spouses."
The Central Electoral Commission said on Monday near-final results showed 91.61 percent of those who voted approved the amendment to change the definition.
Same-sex marriage is already illegal in Romania and a constitutional amendment would have made it harder to legalise.
The Romanian Orthodox Church supported the constitutional revision but opponents had encouraged voters to boycott the referendum.
LGBT activist, Florin Buhuceanu, told The Associated Press that the referendum boycott was a "victory for the whole country", and brought Romania closer to a "European context based on rights and freedoms for everybody."
