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A decision of the ruling coalition on combining elections will increase the danger of extremist parties taking over the political stages, MP Oana Cambera, deputy chair of the REPER party, and MP Andrei Lupu said on Wednesday.
"Combining elections is a bad idea that will cost us all. The personal initiatives of Marcel Ciolacu and Nicolae Ciuca will turn the entire political architecture in Romania upside down and instead of taking us away from the extremist danger, it will take us closer to the edge of the abyss," Cambera is quoted as saying in a press statement, agerpres reports.
Noting "the lack of responsibility for the current economic situation,"Cambera added that none of the ruling parties will take ownership of the anticipated failure of combining the elections.
"Romanians have not voted in four years and are ready to vote as much and whenever necessary in 2024. I haven't seen PSD or PNL leaders worry about the fact that Romanians haven't had a democratic election since 2020, but they're worried they'd get bored if they voted four times in a year," said the REPER leader.
MP Andrei Lupu warned of increasing extremist danger on the political stages.
"Apart from the fact that the coalition's decision will increase the danger of extremist parties taking over the political stages, it is also profoundly unconstitutional. Under Decision 51 of 2012, the Constitutional Court has already established that the simultaneous holding of several elections affects the fundamental right to vote. The Venice Commission spoke on the same occasion. Last but not least, such a decision of the government violates parliamentary procedures, as there is already a landmark initiative pending before the Senate, which prohibits the simultaneous organisation of several types of elections or bringing forward the local elections."
The national leaders of the PSD-PNL governing coalition, Marcel Ciolacu and Nicolae Ciuca, are expected this evening to reveal a decision on organising this year's elections, after separate meetings of the two parties to approve the strategy, according to PNL and PSD representatives Rares Bogdan and Mihai Tudose announced.
A meeting of the ruling coalition on setting the election schedule and a possible combining took place on Wednesday morning at Victoria Palace.
"We met, we had a very serious, in-depth discussion (...) and we all agreed to come up before our parties to discuss both principles and an important project, but you will certainly find out things during today," said PNL's Bogdan.
Social Democrat Mihai Tudose said that, according to a survey, 60% of Romanians want the elections to be combined, without providing more details on this subject.
