2024 was “a bad year for democracy”

2024 was a bad year for democracy, according to a report by the NGO Coalition for Citizens. Election campaigns were dominated by sterile political disputes, and traditional media continued to lose visibility and trust due to massive funding from political parties.

Oana Preda from the Resource Center for Public Participation: Our impression was that in 2024, accentuated by the election year, we saw the decline in its acute form. The electoral context was regulated urgently, and it seemed that all the legislation built around the elections was not made in the public interest, but in the interest of the ruling parties. The election of the president gives us a little hope, but we are very concerned that the parties that will come to power are the same ones we have accused of undermining democracy. They will have no opposition, so in a way, democratic opposition will be missing. We, the non-governmental organizations, will try to do this, but our resources are limited.

Among the democratic deficits listed by civil society are a series of abuses and attempts to marginalize critical voices, threats and attempts to discredit journalists, and police interventions for posts on social media.

Translated by: Radu Matei