Mayors "elected in first round"

For the next local elections, mayors could be elected in the first round, after the Chamber of Deputies, which is the decisional forum, changed the method of election.

With 174 votes for, 110 against and 3 abstentions, the draught law by which the mayors will be elected in the first round was adopted by the Chamber of Deputies.

The draught law will be sent to President Traian Băsescu in order to be promulgated.

The Opposition criticized the draught law, claiming it was a mistake and a deviation from the democracy values.

After Tuesday's election, deputy of the National Liberal Party (PNL) Mihăiţă Calimente explained the reason why the Liberals voted against.

"One-round elections are undemocratic, because they enable one minority to choose its favourite candidate against the majority. Vote rigging and the voters' bribing could become easier to apply. The representativeness of the elected would become questionable and the authority diminished", Mihăiţă Calimente declared.

"One step forward in the state's reform"

The Legislative supported the draught law, because mayors should undergo the same elections process as the County Council Presidents and they should be elected in the first round.

President of the Chamber of Deputies Roberta Anastase mentioned that the draught law is a step forward in the state"s reform as far as local public administrations are concerned.

"We did nothing but an alignment of the elections which are held at the same time and I primarily refer to the election of County Council Presidents", Roberta Anastase stated.

The Mayors will be elected in one-round elections, except for the situations where runoffs between candidates are recorded (the same number of votes).

In this case, they will proceed to a new round of elections, two weeks after the first was held, between the candidates in the runoff.

Translated by: Mihaela Grigoraş
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University