Extended terms in office for local elected officials

The terms in office for local elected officials have been extended to November 1

Corina Cristea, 16.06.2020, 14:00

Had it not been for the pandemic and other obstacles, local elections would have already been held in Romania by this time, because the terms of those elected 4 years ago were scheduled to end on June 21st. But the circumstances required an extension, as a means to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, so the Social Democrats and the Liberal Democrats, in opposition, jointly with the Liberals, in power, initiated a bill to avoid a situation where local communities would be left without mayors.

In an emergency procedure, the bill was endorsed by Senate on Friday, so on Monday the Chamber of Deputies, the decision-making body in this respect, voted to extend the terms in office for local elected officials until November 1.

Along with halving down the minimum number of signatures required for entering the election race, the Deputies also decided that the date of the forthcoming elections would be set at least 60 days before the vote, by means of an organic law. This latter element, that the election date cannot be set under a government order, is a bone of contention between the power and opposition.

Just like in the Senate, the Liberals criticised this amendment and abstained from voting. The leader of the Liberal Deputies, Florin Roman, argued that setting the date through an organic law is unconstitutional and comes against provisions in the Administrative Code:

Florin Roman: “This opens another Pandoras box, where a parliamentary majority at some point, which may be dictated by circumstances, takes away from the powers of the president, the powers of the government. So this is an issue that breaks the principle of the separation of powers.

Conversely, the Social Democrats, which have a majority in Parliament, are of a different opinion. The Social-Democrat Marcel Ciolacu, speaker of the Chamber:

Marcel Ciolacu: “As far as I can understand, after reading the grounds of the Constitutional Court ruling as well, it seems that both the Government and Parliament may set the date of the local elections.

The MPs of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania also voted in favour. “This year political parties need to try and secure a much broader majority that the support the current government has in parliament, and we believe this broader majority is taking shape, the partys representatives said.

In turn, the Save Romania Union argued that at the moment this bill is the only way to keep the local administration from collapsing.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)