The referendum that failed at empty polling stations

When the polling stations closed in Romania on the evening of 7 October 2018, it quickly became clear that the referendum on marriage had failed. The deciding factor was not the no votes, but the many people who had stayed away.

Over two days, voters had been able to decide whether the constitution should explicitly define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Until then it had referred, in gender-neutral terms, to "spouses". The change would have placed an additional constitutional hurdle in the way of any later opening of marriage to same-sex couples. The conservative "Coalition for the Family" had collected around three million signatures for it. Both chambers of parliament approved the proposal, the Orthodox Church mobilised for the vote, and almost all parties represented in parliament backed the change.

Polls pointed to a clear yes. For the result to be valid, however, at least thirty per cent of eligible voters had to take part. In the end, only about one in five went to the polls. The vast majority of votes cast were indeed in favour, but because of the low turnout the referendum was invalid.

Many people stayed at home on purpose. Observers also read this as a protest against the governing Social Democrats. Critics accused them of using the vote to distract from corruption scandals. At the same time, agitation against gays and lesbians had intensified during the campaign.

In Bucharest, queer activists celebrated the failure that same evening. Shortly afterwards, the government announced a law on registered partnerships. It was never implemented, however. Later, the European Court of Human Rights censured Romania for its lack of legal recognition for same-sex couples.

The boycott could not be read as a majority for opening marriage. But the referendum made clear that support for a constitutional amendment was far harder to mobilise than its loudest advocates had assumed.