Senate adopts draft law on establishment of dates for elections

The Senate plenum on Monday passed a draft law initiated by the leaders of the PSD (Social Democratic Party), UDMR (Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania) and ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats) on the establishment, by Parliament, of the dates for the Senate and the Deputies' Chamber elections, through an organic law, at least 60 days before the vote.

The draft law has passed with 89 voted "in favour" and 39 "against," one abstention.

"In trying to speed up the electoral process, without affecting the people's electoral rights, we propose that the electoral period be of maximum 60 days, with the electoral periods to be reduced by half, except for the period for the submission of candidacies in the constituencies around the country and the duration of the campaign," said the initiators.

Another proposal is that the minimum number of signatures needed by candidates to be able to register to be also reduced by half, and to introduce the possibility of collecting the signatures by using the electronic means.

Draft laws referring to measures to be taken in organising parliamentary elections belong to the category of organic laws, with the Senate being the first notified chamber in this case.