Political Priorities in Romania

On Monday, President Klaus Iohannis held consultations with representatives of the parliamentary parties in Romania

Roxana Vasile, 21.04.2015, 13:46

Following Monday’s talks, both president Klaus Iohannis and representatives of parliamentary parties in Romania agreed that clear deadlines should be observed for amending the election laws. At the end of the discussions, president Iohannis said:

“We’ve reached an agreement on three issues. First of all, the law on the local elections and the law on the funding of political parties and election campaigns in Romania must be passed by Parliament and submitted for promulgation by mid May. Also, all parliamentary parties have agreed that the draft law on the parliamentary elections should be finalized by the end of the current parliamentary session. The third issue concerns voting in the Diaspora, mail voting in particular. All parties have given assurances that a legislative solution will soon be found.”

Following the big scandal that made the headlines during last November’s presidential election, when thousands of Romanians abroad could not vote because of the poor way in which the process was organized for them, political parties were quick to stress the need for amendments to the current law. The Social Democratic Party, the main party in the ruling coalition, held responsible for the bad organization of the election, would like the elections abroad to be managed by the Permanent Election Authority. The Social Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who lost the presidential race in November, admitted back then that there were major flaws in the election law. On Monday, after the talks with president Klaus Iohannis, he said that the Social Democratic Party wanted Romanians living abroad to register on the election lists 6 months prior to the elections.

Also, the Social-Democrats would like the mayors to be elected in just one ballot. Talking about the same election laws, leaders of the liberals, now in opposition, said they saw no impediment in the entire package of laws being passed during the current parliamentary session. The co-president of the National Liberal Party, Vasile Blaga, actually stated that the Senate could pass this very week three laws of the package, among which the law on the local elections.

“We supported our amendments regarding the election of mayors and county council presidents in two rounds. If the proposal regarding just one ballot for mayors passes, then we will accept it. Between two evils, namely county council presidents elected in just one ballot or elected by county councilors, we take the better one, namely the latter.”

Against the backdrop of the anti-corruption offensive started among high-ranking officials, Monday’s talks also dwelled on finding the right procedure under which MPs would comply with certain requests made by prosecutors. All parliamentary parties agreed that justice should not be obstructed in Parliament.