Kelemen, on merging elections: If they agree on first step, they also agreed on second

The President of UDMR, Kelemen Hunor, considers that if the coalition leaders agreed on merging the European parliamentary elections with the local ones, then they also agreed on the second step - merging the parliamentary and presidential elections.

According to him, the Constitution does not prohibit the merger of local and European parliaments, but there is an article in the law regarding mayors.

"The Constitution does not prohibit, but in the law there is an article that says that the mayor, after being elected, must take the oath within 20 days. And if the Parliament changes the law, since there is no this ban in the Constitution, then it is possible, it is not a problem. Of course, that period of three and a half months from the elections, if they will be merged, until the current mayor, the current council, ends their mandate. (...) It is possible, but the whole picture must be seen. (...) And there is another possibility, to merge the presidential elections with the local ones, again, also, by amending the law, saying that not 30, but 90 days before the expiration of the mandate of the current president one can organize elections and one does not shorten the term of the president. But, from a political point of view, on an elementary political logic, if you make an agreement on the first step, you also make it for the second step. So it is excluded that PSD and PNL should make an agreement only for the European Parliament, bringing the local ones, and not to make an agreement for the presidential and parliamentary ones, because it has no logic. If you take the first step, you want to know what the next step is," Kelemen Hunor told Digi24.

In his opinion, the most rational solution would be a common presidential candidate.

''From my point of view, the most rational solution if we think about the next years is to have a common candidate for the presidential elections, but I cannot decide in their place. What would I do in their place? This is what I would do - an agreement for the presidential elections, a common candidate, for joint parliamentary lists. So this would be a political project for the two parties for the next four years or four and a half years from now on. (...) But it depends on what agreement they reach," the UDMR leader pointed out.