2018 Olt County referendum

2018 referendum held in the Olt County in Romania

Olt County referendum, 2018 |  | 6 and 7 October 2018 |

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Do you agree with the assignment of the name Olt-Romanați to the Olt County?
Sunteți de acord cu atribuirea denumirii Olt-Romanați județului Olt?

Location| Olt County, Romania

The 2018 Olt County referendum was a referendum held in the Olt County in Romania to rename it to the "Olt-Romanați County" in 6 and 7 October 2018. This referendum was demanded by the inhabitants of the former Romanați County, especially those of its former capital Caracal, as they said it was to defend their identity and to remember the abolished county.[1][2][3] The referendum did not attempt to enforce any administrative changes, only changes in the county's name.[1] For it to pass, the voter turnout had to be of 30% or more out of the approximately 300,000 people eligible to vote in the Olt County at the time[1][3] and the results had to be of 50%+1 votes or more saying "yes".[4][3]

The referendum was held at the same time as the 2018 Romanian constitutional referendum,[5] which sought to prohibit same-sex marriage in Romania,[6] reason for which Olt County voters were given two ballots. The referendum cost about 900,000 Romanian lei, which was seen as an unnecessary expense by many locals.[5]

Although the referendum was originally scheduled for 15 October 2017,[7] it was held in the end in 6 and 7 October 2018.[3] The question of the referendum was the following: "Do you agree with the assignment of the name Olt-Romanați to the Olt County?" (Sunteți de acord cu atribuirea denumirii Olt-Romanați județului Olt?).[5][8] Around 369,000 people signed up for the Olt County's voting lists. The turnout was 27.19%, so the referendum failed.[9][10][11] The nationwide referendum regarding same-sex marriage also failed for the same reason.[6] Unlike the nationwide referendum, no official data was released for the Olt County one.[12]

## See also[edit]

* 2017 Nagorno-Karabakh constitutional referendum, a referendum which involved a name change
* 2018 Macedonian referendum, another referendum which involved a name change

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Referendum special pentru 300.000 de români". Digi24 (in Romanian). 6 October 2018.
2. ^ Mitran, Alina (17 September 2018). "Un referendum care costă 900.000 de lei: oltenii vor să schimbe numele județului în Olt-Romanați". Adevărul (in Romanian).
3. ^ a b c d Dorobanțu, Alin (19 September 2018). ""DA", pentru Olt-Romanați!". Ziarul de Olt (in Romanian).
4. ^ "Referendum pentru ca judeţul Olt să se numească Olt-Romanaţi, stabilit pentru 15 octombrie". Ziarul Financiar. 25 August 2017.
5. ^ a b c "Referendumul Olt-Romanați. Localnic: "E una și aceeași"". Pro TV (in Romanian). 6 October 2018.
6. ^ a b Ilie, Luiza (7 October 2018). "Romanian constitutional ban on same sex marriage fails on low vote turnout". Reuters.
7. ^ "Olt: CJ a programat pe 15 octombrie referendumul pentru schimbarea numelui județului". Agerpres (in Romanian). 24 August 2017.
8. ^ "Olt: 369.755 de alegători așteptați la referendumul local pentru schimbarea numelui județului în Olt-Romanați". HotNews (in Romanian). 5 October 2018.
9. ^ Dobrescu, Petre (7 October 2018). "Referendumul din Olt a eșuat, deși prezența a fost mai mare decât la referendumul pentru familie". Libertatea (in Romanian).
10. ^ "A picat și referendumul "Olt-Romanați"". Cotidianul (in Romanian). 8 October 2018.
11. ^ Dumitrescu, Carmen (8 October 2018). "Eșec și la OLT. Județul își păstrează denumirea". Mediafax (in Romanian).
12. ^ Mitran, Alina (7 October 2018). "Președintele CJ Olt, despre referendumul pentru Olt-Romanați: "A fost un termen scurt pentru informarea cetățenilor". Cât a fost prezența la Caracal VIDEO". Adevărul (in Romanian).