Rommania : Basescu survived a referendum on his impeachment

Romanian referendum invalid due to low turnout.Romanian President Traian Basescu has survived a referendum on his impeachment due to low voter turnout. Central Election Bureau said on Monday that 87.5 percent of those who voted supported impeachment. But it said the turnout for Sunday's ballot was 46.13 percent, below the 50 percent needed for the referendum to be valid.

After the announcement, Basescu appealed to the public to support the austerity measures demanded by the country's international lenders, saying Romania needs a national effort to overcome the crisis.Basescu's support rate has plunged since the government introduced austerity in 2010 in return for EU and IMF loans. Romania's finances had worsened after the 2008 global financial crisis.

  This month, the opposition-dominated Parliament voted to suspend Basescu and hold a referendum on his mandate to govern.The drive to oust Basescu has been spearheaded by his rival, Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who came to power in May.

Ponta's center-left government had accused the center-right president of overstepping his powers and meddling in government affairs. The government had tried to remove the minimum voter turnout rule to make it easier to impeach Basescu, but backed down after criticism by the EU and a Constitutional Court ruling that a 50 percent turnout was obligatory.

The Prime Minister is himself embroiled in a scandal over alleged plagiarism over his doctoral thesis.