Reports say activists went out to round up voters

A Romanian referendum crucial to the country's EU entry hopes was declared valid on Sunday after fears of low turnout in the hours before polling stations closed.

At least 52% of the electorate cast their votes during the two-day poll, according to the central election bureau.

The opposition has lodged a formal complaint to the electoral bureau, claiming breaches of voting procedures.

Reports suggest that government supporters went onto the streets to urge people to take part in a poll seen by many as a vote of confidence.

Voters were asked to amend the constitution to bring the country into line with the laws of the EU which Romania hopes to join by 2007.

"This vote alone will not make our country rich... but without it everything we have accomplished will be lost," Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase told his citizens in a national radio broadcast.

Measures to lure out the voters also appeared to include offers of free food and medical check-ups.

Official results are not expected until next week.

'Confidence vote'

Correspondents say that many voters regard the referendum as a vote of confidence in the government.

They say there may have been some reluctance in voting because of the failure of successive cabinets to improve the country's standard of living years after the collapse of Communism.

"If I voted, it would be a vote of confidence for corruption, lies, crony capitalism [and] nepotism," engineer Adrian Trofin, who did not vote, told the Associated Press news agency.

The referendum is aimed at guaranteeing private property, demilitarising the police, declaring the country's justice system independent and removing obstacles to foreign investment.