Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the national leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), said on Wednesday that from his point of view combining elections is possible only if an agreement is reached for a schedule of all elections this election year, told Agerpres.
He made the clarification at the end of a meeting with representatives of the Romanian community in Italy, an event hosted by the City Hall of Rome.
He was asked if the option of combining elections is still topical given that the coalition has not reached a consensus on it.
"This is not the first time I have said it, I say it tonight: when we have a schedule for all the elections for the whole election year, at that moment it is possible to have a combination. It would not take discussions into the area of political negotiations. I want the prime minister to give everything that means legislative change for the entire election year. Not piecemeal, we don't combine now and think about how we approach elections later. Romanians no longer understand anything, as we are talking about combining, we do not make decisions in real time. No, I didn't actually explain to them the pluses and minuses. And then we have all these endless discussions. I, if I were a voter, would really mind. At this point we have a schedule. I will only change the electoral schedule for the whole year," said Ciolacu.
Asked if there is currently a schedule put forth by the National Liberal Party (PNL) or the Social Democrats to be implemented immediately, Ciolacu pointed out that "Romanians and the Romanian Government and AEP (Standing Electoral Authority) have an electoral schedule."
"Under the existing one, on June 9 are the European Parliament elections, on September 29 the local elections, the last Sunday in November, the first round of the presidential election, the last Saturday in November, on the 30th - December 1 is out of the question- general elections, and the first Sunday in December, on December 8, the presidential runoff. That's the law now and that's the schedule according to the law," Ciolacu said.
PNL national leader Nicolae Ciuca said on Wednesday at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest that he relies on the reason of the coalition partners to reach a solution to combine the election to the European Parliament and the local elections.
The PNL leader also said on Tuesday that negotiations with PSD on organising this year's elections will resume on Friday, February 16, stressing that any further extension of them is inopportune and no longer makes any sense.
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