Talks on local elections

The battle for the elections of 2016 has already begun. Political parties in Romania dont seem to agree on the voting system.

Florentin Căpitănescu, 02.02.2016, 13:55

Political parties in Romania are preparing for the local and legislative elections that are scheduled later this year. For some time now the focus of their attention has been the election law, which provides for the election of a local official in one ballot. The new technocratic Government in Bucharest is now facing a difficult task, after the Liberals have insistently called on Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos to amending the current election law by switching to the two-ballot voting system. Challenging the legitimacy of an official who gets elected after grabbing only 20-30% of the votes, the Liberals have also suggested alternatives.

One would be an emergency Government ordinance. Another one would be for the Government to seek Parliament’s vote of confidence on this issue. The latter seems to be a less viable scenario, given that the Ciolos Cabinet does not sit on a robust Parliament majority. In turn, Dacian Ciolos said that from the very start his Government would not involve in political decisions, such as amending a law passed by Parliament, all the more so as it holds a high electoral stake. The Prime Minister decided however to explore alternatives, and met with leaders of parliamentary parties on Monday.

Dacian Ciolos: “I cannot accept that the Government should be used as a tool by any party for achieving its strictly party-related objectives. I believe such a debate should continue, so as to have a clear idea of what we want for the future. I have noticed that political parties themselves do not know what they want. I’ve come to the conclusion therefore that there is a majority in Parliament that doesn’t want the rules of the game to change right now”.

The leftist Social-Democratic Party, right now holding most seats in Parliament, does not oppose the proposal in itself, merely its timing, with only several months to go before the local elections. The new Parliament will be capable of deciding on this change, particularly because it will have enough time to pave the way for it before the upcoming elections of 2020. Political pundits expect the winner between the Social-Democrats and the Liberals will be decided by smaller parties. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, the National Union for the Progress of Romania and the Group of Liberals and Conservatives from Romania (ALDE) support the one-ballot system, while the Liberals’ proposal has been backed by the People’s Movement Party and the Romanian Social Party.