Unionist associations of the Republic of Moldova call on the Moldovan citizens who also have Romanian nationality to take part in the referendum on the revision of Romania’s Constitution of October 6 and 7, 2018 where the voters will answer with “YES” or “NO” the question about the amendment of Article 48 concerning the redefining of the definition of family, IPN reports.

The law to review the Constitution that was adopted by Romania’s Parliament suggests replacing the sentence “the family is based on a freely decided marriage between spouses” with “the family is based on a freely decided marriage between a man and a woman”.

Vlad Bileţchi, head of the organization “Unirea-ODIP”, called upon the people to take part in the referendum as this is a democratic exercise. “I’m a conservative person and support the traditional family that consists of a man and a woman. Only a man and a woman can procreate children. I was also procreated by a man and a woman and consider this is something normal. I do not urge violence against the sexual minorities,” he stated. According to Vlad Bileţchi, in the Centenary Year it would have been more opportune to hold a referendum on an issue related to the union not the family, but given that this is organized, everyone is requested to take part in it.  

Pavel Vintilă, first vice president of the Movement “New Right” also invited the citizens to the referendum. “In the online sphere, the referendum is boycotted for the reason that it represents discrimination or is organized by the PSD. The PSD has nothing to do with it as there were collected over 3 million signatures and it was organized by the Coalition for the Family,” he noted.

Ion Jalbă, of the Association of Romanian Cristian Orthodox Students “A.S.C.O.R.”, said the referendum of October 6 and 7 is an exam of faith and morality. “Three million Romanians said they are for the protection of the family. It’s time to ensure normality,” he stated.

Oleg Chicu, vice president of the National Unity Bloc “BUN”, said the participation in the referendum is important. Everyone should vote how their conscience tells them, but it is important for any Romanian citizens from the Republic of Moldova to take part in all the organized democratic exercises.

In 2015, the Coalition for the Family started to collect signatures for organizing a referendum on the amendment of Article 48, paragraph (1) of the Constitution, which refers to the family. In May 2017, the Chamber of Deputies, then the senate of Romania in September 2018, adopted the legislative proposal concerning the referendum on the amendment of the Constitution. The initiative has been challenged by human rights organizations that argued the referendum will lead to the violation of the international norms on human rights and to the expansion of homophobe discrimination.