Politics and the Church. A segregational marriage that affects national integrity

Since 1989 Revolution, Romania has gone through many rounds of presidential elections. However, none of these has ever divided the country map according to preferences before. On November the 2nd 2014, the last presidential election, Romania’s map was divided into three categories, two of wich (left wing voters and right wing voters) were clearly accentuated. The Romanian electoral geography portrayed Transylvania as being almost completely affiliated to the right wing candidate, while the extra-Carpathian provinces wich voted the left wing candidate. Having a competitive candidate who belongs to a different denomination and is part of an etnic minority, together with the religious political attacks that were meant to affect the active orthodox, have segregated the Romanian population. The map wich was dispalyed after the first voting tour coincides with Samuel Huntington’s view on the clash of civilizations. Romania is at the border between the Western and Orthodox civilizations, and this implies tensions and conflict, according to Huntington’s view. The two map – the first election tour map as well as Huntington’s map – highlight a segregating state of affairs between Transylvania and the rest of Romania, wich can affect the national integrity due to irrational political messages that call on religion and etnic identity.