Thousands of Romanians in diaspora were unable to vote because of the additional measures taken by the Central Election Authority and which made voting difficult.
Our countrymen residing abroad have left disappointed from the polls without having voted, although they had waited even for seven hours in front of the polling station.
In London, Paris, Rome and Munich, Romanians protested in front of the embassy, angry that they could not vote.
In Paris, where the Romanians could only vote in two polling stations, some countrymen stormed into one of them, after the polls closed. They barricaded themselves in, claiming the right to vote.
The Ambassador himself could not persuade them. It took the intervention of special forces to solve the crisis. After two hours of negotiations, the Romanians have left the station, but not before signing a petition alleging that their rights were violated. Those who managed to vote queued even for five hours to be able to exercise their right to vote.
There were problems in London, where about one thousand Romanians were faced with closed doors, after waiting even for seven hours in the queue.
The police had to intervene here as well barricading the doors of the polling stations.
Romanians left without being able to vote, after they sang the Romanian anthem in front of the embassy.
The atmosphere was particularly tensed in Rome, as well. The three polling stations in Rome were insufficient for the many people who came to vote.
The voters who made it to the polling stations asked the commission for explanations, but the commission blamed the officials in Bucharest for the interminable ques.
In Milan, the tensions accumulated in the daytime exploded in the evening. A Romanian waiting in line was attacked with a knife and taken by ambulance to the hospital. Currently, the attacker, whose identity is unknown, disappeared without a trace, and the reason remains a mystery.
The gates were closed in Chisinau, where dozens of people went home without voting, after waiting for hours.
There were endless queues in Strasbourg as well, where one polling station was insufficient for the impressive number of electors.
This year, there were 294 polling stations in 95 states. Officially, about three million Romanians are living abroad.