CCR to debate on notifications related to Law on parliamentary elections on Sept 15

The Romanian Constitutional Court is due to discuss on September 15 the notifications filed by President Klaus Iohannis and the Government on the Law on some measures for organizing the elections for the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, as the term in office of the elected Parliament ended in 2016, CCR officials informed through AGERPRES on Tuesday.

The head of state notified the CRR on Monday, asking the body to see that this normative act is unconstitutional as a whole.

According to a press release of the Presidential Administration, the law violates the provisions of art. 1 paragraphs (3) and (5), art. 36, art. 37, art. 61, art. 63 paragraphs (1), (2) and (4), art. 69 paragraph (2), art. 73 paragraphs (1) (i (3) a), as well as those of art. 147 paragraph (4) of the Constitution.

He pointed out that, according to the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Practices - Guidelines and Explanatory Report, adopted by the European Commission for Democracy through Law at its 52nd Plenary Session (Venice, 18-19 October 2002), "it would be necessary to avoid and not so much to change of voting systems - they can always be improved - but to frequently modify them or shortly (meaning one year, at least) before the elections."

As the Court has also noted, Iohannis added, the recommendations of the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters, drawn up by the Venice Commission, "sets up the coordinates of a democratic election, in relation to which the states - which belong to this type of regime - can exercise their free choice in electoral matters, while observing fundamental human rights in general and the right to be elected and to elect in particular."

"Or, through the criticized provision, the competence to set the election date changes only a few months before the elections, contrary to the constitutional norms, establishing a prerogative for the Parliament to establish the date of the parliamentary elections as it pleases. Moreover, in the current context, Laws establishing the date of parliamentary elections become all the more problematic if one of the causes that determine the legal extension of the Parliament's mandate, such as the state of emergency provided by Article 93 of the Constitution, would intervene," added the president.

In his opinion, through the "untimely" intervention and the "excessive" formalization of the procedure for establishing the election date, the premises for the violation of other provisions and constitutional guarantees are created. Moreover, given the current context, if, for various reasons, Parliament does not adopt that law in a timely manner, it may directly lead to a breach of the constitutional rules that clearly set out the term of office of Parliament and the maximum period in which parliamentary elections must be held, Iohannis added.

Unlike the mandates of the local authorities, the Parliament has a mandate configured in art. 63 paragraph (1) of the Fundamental Law, which expressly and exhaustively regulates the situations in which it is extended by law, respectively in a state of mobilization, war, siege or emergency, until their cessation. Also, in order to ensure continuity, the legislature is extended until the legal meeting of the new Parliament, in its configuration resulting from the elections, the president indicates.

"According to the legislation in force, the Government sets the date of the elections, and the date of the elections is made public at least 90 days before the voting day, by publishing in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, the Government decision on the election date," brings to mind Klaus Iohannis.

He states that the setting of the election date is linked to the duration of the Parliament's mandate, and the Government is the authority that ensures the observance of the constitutional norms by implementing the legal provisions, which represent, in essence, a transposition of the constitutional ones.

The Executive also sent a CCR a notification on this law.