PLUS's Tudorache on vote during pandemic: We can increase number of days, number of polling stations

MEP Dragos Tudorache from PLUS (Liberty, Unity, Solidarity Party) believes a solution in organising the elections during this period impacted by the pandemic would be to increase the number of days and the number of polling stations for the respective vote.

He added that the vote by mail sounds "very good" but, "unfortunately" "culturally speaking, it is not well enough digested by the collective mind yet."

"I believe that the solutions are to increase the number of days during which the people can vote. I heard a proposal to increase the number of days to two, for instance, but we can also increase it to three, four or five days. We can also increase the number of polling stations and, in general, we can schedule groups of electors, by using either their name or their address, to vote in different days, in different locations, so that we can ensure the necessary social distancing," stated the MEP, at the online debate "Organising elections during the pandemic. Scenarios from the political parties," organised by Expert Forum.

Tudorache underscored that the solutions must come from the Permanent Electoral Authority and the Government, especially since this is an exceptional situation, and that there is need of a debate in this regard with the political parties and the civil society to identify the challenges and possible solutions.

"It's very important that we behave responsibly from the very beginning (...) for the safety of our citizens. Whether we are getting closer to it or not, whether we are facing the first or the second wave of this crisis, it is clear that if there is a risk for the citizens then this must be our first priority. And there is a second priority, which follows right after this first one - that of the legitimacy of the representatives we have at the local and central level. Which is why we cannot accept this extension, using the pretext of the pandemic, because it will be too long to extend the existing mandates by that amount of time," explained Dragos Tudorache.

He also called for a solution to reduce the number of signatures or to identify modern electronic forms of support online. "There are solutions to facilitate the collection of signatures online and I think it will be possible to go in this direction," added the PLUS representative.

According to him, Parliament must take responsibility, especially after the repeated decisions of the CCR - Constitutional Court of Romania, and quickly debate and adopt the necessary legislative changes for these elections.