Romanian President Traian Basescu won by a clear margin in a referendum held to decide whether he should be impeached for perceived meddling in politics, the country's central election commission said Sunday.
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Basescu has voters behind himImage: AP
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Basescu scored a resounding victory with 74.34 percent of votes cast in Saturday's referendum, the commission said.
The president had on Saturday evening referred to the vote as a "referendum of trust." Basescu said he had received up to a million votes more than during his election in 2004.
"Romanians want justice," he said, adding that it was now clear that a majority of the country's citizens stood behind his efforts towards a reform of the electoral system with the aim of stamping out corruption.
Opponents admit defeat
The referendum architects, five parties from the government and opposition including the National Liberal Party (PNL) of Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu, admitted defeat in the vote. Basescu is out of the forestImage: AP The alliance had accused Basescu of causing political instability by interfering in the country's internal affairs, and of lacking impartiality.
Basescu -- who is backed by a constitutional court decision that said he was not interfering -- has accused his opponents of stopping him from acting against corruption endemic in Romanian institutions in order to protect vested economic interests.
Over 18 million people were eligible to vote in the referendum, for which 322 MPs and senators -- three-quarters of parliament -- voted.
