General election campaign begins
Friday is the first day of the campaign for the parliamentary election due on December 6
Ştefan Stoica, 06.11.2020, 13:50
The electoral campaign started on Friday in Romania. Almost 19 million Romanians are invited to polls on December 6, to elect the new parliament. This is the second election this year, after the local one held in late September.
For a while, the organisation of the general election this year was uncertain, after a bill was tabled to the effect of postponing it to March next year because of the pandemic. The bill however got stuck in the legislative process.
As was the case with the local election as well, the pandemic, with the strict containment measures it entailed, will not only be the first and foremost topic for discussion, but will also take away much of the colour and dynamism of the campaign. During these complicated times, rallies are just a memory. For indoor events, participation is limited to 20 people, and for outdoor ones, to 50 people. As regards other street events, groups no bigger than 6 people are allowed, and door-to-door teams are also limited to 2 participants.
The organisers of campaign activities are in charge with ensuring compliance with rules such as compulsory face covering and the visual triage of participants.
As always, a lot is at stake in this election. The National Liberal Party has been governing for over a year in difficult political conditions, with a hostile Parliament in which the Social Democrats have the majority. This is why the Liberals, backed by president Iohannis, are making it clear that they seek a parliamentary majority to confirm their success in the local election.
The Social Democrats, in turn, want a score as high as possible in order to preserve a strong position in parliament.
The Save Romania Union-PLUS alliance are at their 4th election test, after the successful campaign for the European Parliament in 2019, last years presidential election and this years local ballot, and are now trying to win enough votes to force the Liberals to ask for their support in the new government.
The leftist Pro Romania party, the right-of-centre Peoples Movement party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians will be merely struggling to make the parliamentary threshold.
Parties currently outside parliament as well as non-affiliated candidates are also running for seats. Ethnic minority groups other than the Hungarian also have one seat each allotted in the Chamber of Deputies.
As for the Romanians living abroad, they will be represented by 4 Deputies and 2 Senators. Over 39,000 Romanian nationals who live abroad have applied to vote by post, mostly from the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and France. The polling stations in foreign countries will be open for 2 days, on December 5 and 6.
In the country, the vote will be held on Sunday, December 6. (translated by: A.M. Popescu)
