The 2018 Olt County name referendum was a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

held in

Olt County Olt County () is a county (județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (the regions are separated by the Olt River, Olt river). The capital city is Slatina, Roma ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

to rename the unit to "Olt-Romanați County" on 6 and 7 October 2018. This referendum was demanded by the inhabitants of the former

Romanați County Romanați County was a county (Romanian language, Romanian: ''județ'') in the Kingdom of Romania, in southeastern part of the historical region of Oltenia. The county seat was Caracal, Romania, Caracal. The county was located in the southwestern ...

, especially those of its former

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

Caracal The caracal (''Caracal caracal'') () is a medium-sized Felidae, wild cat native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and arid areas of Pakistan and northwestern India. It is characterised by a robust build, long legs, a short face, long ...

, as they said it was to defend their identity and to remember the abolished county. The referendum did not attempt to enforce any administrative changes, only changes in the county's name. For it to pass, the

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

had to be of 30% or more out of the approximately 300,000 people eligible to vote in Olt County at the time and the results had to be of 50%+1 votes or more saying "yes". The referendum was held at the same time as the 2018 Romanian constitutional referendum, which sought to prohibit

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

in Romania, so Olt County voters were given two

ballot A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16th cent ...

s. The referendum cost about 900,000

Romanian lei The Romanian leu (, plural lei ; ISO code: RON; numeric code: 946) is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 (, singular: ), a word that also means "money" in the Romanian language. Etymology The name of the currency means "lio ...

, which was seen as an unnecessary expense by many locals. Although the referendum was originally scheduled for 15 October 2017, it was held in the end on 6 and 7 October 2018. The question of the referendum was the following: "Do you agree with the assignment of the name Olt-Romanați to Olt County?" (). Around 369,000 people signed up for Olt County's voting lists. The turnout was 27.19%, so the referendum failed. The nationwide referendum regarding same-sex marriage also failed for the same reason. Unlike the nationwide referendum, no official data was released for the Olt County one.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

Referendums in Romania

Referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

October 2018 in Romania

See also

References