PNL leadership passes constitutional revision draft including public office integrity

National chairman of the National Liberal Party (PNL) Ludovic Orban said on Tuesday that the party's Executive Bureau adopted a constitutional revision draft, including a ban on convicted persons running in parliamentary and European elections. 

"Today, the Executive Bureau adopted a draft for the revision of the Romanian Constitution following the will expressed by the Romanian citizens at the referendum on May 26. We adopted this draft, in which we introduced, besides the changes that are required as a result of the will expressed by the citizens of Romania at the referendum, a bill on integrity in holding public office, namely a ban on criminal convicts running for seats in the Romanian Parliament and the European Parliament," Orban said at the end of a meeting of the PNL Executive Bureau. 

He specified that the BEx decided to mandate the leaders of the PNL parliamentary groups, MP Raluca Turcan and Senator Florin Citu, to start a dialogue and discussions with the parliamentary groups, especially with those who signed the Pact on Strengthening the European Route of Romania, to operate the constitutional provisions ensuing the May 26 referendum. 

"We decided on and approved the draft with which the leaders of the National Liberal Party (PNL) will be represented in the Special Committee on the Amendment of Electoral Laws, in which we clearly support the introduction of the postal voting for the elections to the European Parliamentary and the presidential elections. We also support an increase in the number of days Romanian citizens aboard can exercise their right to vote. We support internal organisation measures at the level of the electoral bureaus of the polling stations so as to streamline the voting procedure and increase the number of polling stations aboard. As for postal voting, we are for it to be extended also to Romanian citizens who reside in Romania but who, for reasons beyond their control, on election day are in other places than those where they can exercise their right to vote," Orban said.