In Pictures

Low turnout annuls Romanian vote on same-sex marriage

Just over 20 percent of Romanians turned up at referendum aimed at changing the definition of marriage.

2 [Alexandra radu/Al Jazeera] — The LGBT community protested against the extreme discourse targeted towards them, asking the population to boycott the referendum. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]

A referendum in Romania aimed at changing the definition of marriage to exclude same-sex couples has failed after turnout fell well below the threshold.

Final results published on Monday showed a voter turnout of just over 20 percent which was well below the 30 percent needed to validate a referendum.

Barely one-fifth of Romania’s 19 million voters turned out to cast their ballots in the weekend referendum which had drawn heavy criticism from rights groups and the European Union.

The vote aimed to change Article 48 of the constitution, from defining marriage as the union between two “spouses” to the union between “a man and a woman”.

Of the 3.7 million who voted, just over 3.4 million – around 92 percent – were in favour of the proposed change, the electoral office said.

Pavel Chirila, founding member of the Coalition for Family, which initiated calls for the referendum, said it reiterated the Orthodox values of the Romanian majority.

“Romania is a Christian Orthodox country, we want the notion of marriage clearly defined in the constitution,” said Chirila.

Opponents of the initiative, however, warned about the negative impact of the change on the rights of same-sex couples and single parents.

“This way of redefining the family has the potential of aﬀecting children from all families by promoting the idea that single-parent families, formed by non-married partners, children raised by grandparents, rainbow families and all other families that do not fall under the narrow definition proposed by the referendum, do not deserve recognition and protection,” stated a letter addressed to Prime Minister Viorica Dancila.

Romanian civil law clearly states marriage as the union between a man and a woman.

1 [Alexandra radu/Al Jazeera] — "The law is very clear with regards to marriage and the Constitutional Court has stated that the term 'spouses' from the current version refers to exactly the same thing," said Victor Ciobotaru from Accept, an LGBT advocacy group in Romania. "Even the Romanian language dictionary defines 'spouses' as 'two persons of opposite sex united through marriage'. The referendum is a useless expense in one of EU’s poorest countries, meant to distract attention from the real problems that families in our country are facing: Domestic violence, child mortality, underage marriage, poverty, school dropout rate." [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]

3 [Alexandra radu/Al Jazeera] — Huge banners encouraging people to vote 'yes' were seen throughout Romania, with the message "Defend Romania’s children and the marriage between a man and a woman". Even though they were illegal, in many cases the banners were raised by churches showing direct support for the referendum. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]

4 [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera] — Veronica, a 72-year-old volunteer with the Coalition for Family in Bucharest, distributed flyers encouraging people to vote 'yes'. "I'm doing this out of belief. When I was working in Germany, I saw a homosexual couple on the street. It was horrible, they were hugging and kissing. I thought I would never speak about that experience in my life but today not only I can speak about it but I can do more." [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]

6 [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera] — "This referendum shifts Romania towards an illiberal pathway. For the first time we have heard of a Ro-exit, Romania leaving the EU, in the context of the vote this weekend. Politicians are completely irresponsible to push on with this vote, ignoring any signs of the way this will go. Also, the Orthodox Church has constantly cultivated an anti-European sentiment, as opposed to so-called tradition," said Vlad Levente Viski, from Mozaiq, a local LGBT rights advocacy group. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]

7 [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera] — Members of the LGBT community check social media posts during a protest organised in Bucharest. Most of the anti-referendum campaign happened online. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]

8 [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera] — Members of the LGBT community protest against the referendum in front of the government headquarters in Bucharest. "Nobody can vote on whom I can love" was written on a banner, together with #boycott, a hashtag that was widely circulated on social media, uniting the anti-referendum voices. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]

11 [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera] — A volunteer at the Coalition for Family distributed flyers encouraging the population to vote 'yes' in a market in Bucharest. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]

13 [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera] — Opponents of the initiative warned about the negative impact of the change on the rights of same sex couples and single parents. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]

14 [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera] — The referendum took place over two days, an extraordinary measure taken by the government to encourage a higher turnout. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]

15 [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera] — Romanians showed little interest in voting, with a turnout of only just over 20 percent, far below the 30 percent required threshold for the validation of the referendum. [Alexandra Radu/Al Jazeera]