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The judges of the Supreme Court admitted on Tuesday a request filed by representatives of the Renewing Romania's European Project - REPER - party to refer to the Constitutional Court an exception of unconstitutionality of the provisions of Government Emergency Ordinance 21/2024, which merged the local elections with the European Parliament elections.
On 16 March, at the constitution of the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC), the REPER and People's Movement Party (PMP) requests to have a representative each in the Bureau were rejected, invoking the provisions of the ordinance on the merger of elections.
REPER filed a complaint with the High Court of Cassation and Justice in which it challenged the minutes of the Central Electoral Bureau constitution, but the challenge was rejected by judges on Tuesday.
On the other hand, the magistrates admitted a request by REPER to refer the matter to the CCR regarding the ordinance on the merger of elections.
The Emergency Ordinance 21/2024, published on 8 March, which merged the local elections with the European Parliament elections, provides in Article 2 lit. c) that the BEC includes members proposed by parliamentary political parties and organisations of citizens belonging to national minorities who had their own parliamentary group in at least one of the chambers of Parliament at the time of its constitution following the elections for the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies in 2020.
Also, Article 2, letter d) stipulates that the BEC will include members proposed by political parties and organisations of citizens belonging to national minorities that have been allocated seats in the 2019 elections for members of the European Parliament from Romania.
According to addresses of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies sent to the BEC by the Permanent Electoral Authority, the political parties that have their own parliamentary group and that can appoint representatives to the BEC are: the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Save Romania Union (USR), the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) and the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR).
Also, the parties that obtained mandates in the 2019 European Parliament elections are: PSD, PNL, USR, AUR, UDMR, Pro Romania and PMP.
REPER sent on 15 March an address to BEC requesting the registration of Tiberiu Ionut Petrescu as its representative in the Central Electoral Bureau. The application was rejected on the grounds that REPER did not obtain mandates in the 2019 European Parliament elections.
REPER currently has five MEPs, but they were elected in 2019 on the USR-PLUS alliance list.
