Bucharest: Romanians started voting on Sunday in a referendum on whether to impeach unpopular president Traian Basescu, after weeks of political squabbles.
Polling stations opened at 0400 GMT. Around 18.3 million people are eligible to vote, including large diasporas in Spain and Italy.
The opening hours have been extended and a number of additional polling stations have been set up along the Black Sea coast to facilitate voting for holidaymakers and rural populations in a country where voter fatigue is high.
In case turnout is lower than 50 percent, the referendum will be declared invalid and Basescu, suspended by Parliament earlier this month, will be reinstated and continue his mandate, which ends in 2014.
However, Basescu has called for a boycott in hopes of invalidating the vote.
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