UDMR's Kelemen says all MPs should vote on censure motion

National chairman of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) Kelemen Hunor told AGERPRES on Thursday that all MPs who disagrees with the form or merits of the government's legislating on two-round mayoral elections by assuming responsibility before Parliament have to vote on the censure motion, and that Parliament has "the moral and political obligation to stop the government."

"I say that the vote of motion must be made as soon as possible, we must not prolong this agony and the sooner, the better. We will vote for the motion of censure, as some of us have signed it. We will vote because we do not agree with changing the electoral legislation for the election of the local administrations neither six months, nor a year before the elections proper and especially not by this method, by government assuming responsibility. That is why I believe that any politician, any lawmaker who disagree with either the form or the substance of the matters has to vote on the censure motion," said Kelemen.

He added that a novel situation was emerging.

"Yesterday, the Constitutional Court issued two rulings on two responsibility assumptions performed by the Orban government and ruled that the government should not and should not be allowed to assume responsibility in Parliament, given that there are two laws at an advanced stage in the parliamentary procedure. And if there is such a thing, then the government does not have to intervene in the legislative procedure, because it is not the government's job: there is a constitutional conflict between Parliament and the Government. As far as electoral legislation is concerned, there is a bill that has passed through the Senate and is under parliamentary procedure in the Chamber of Deputies. So given the circumstances, the government was not allowed to come up with assuming responsibility for changing the electoral law. That is why I believe it is a moral and political obligation on the part of the Parliament to stop the Government in this step and to block the assumption of responsibility by dismissing the Government," said Kelemen.

He added that he was convinced that this year there will be no local elections in two rounds.

"If the Government is not dismissed, we will challenge the government's decision with the Constitutional Court and I am convinced that in a case similar to the two previous assumptions, the Constitutional Court has no other verdict than yesterday's verdicts. I am hundred percent sure that in 2020 there will be no two-round local elections," concluded Kelemen.

A censure motion called "The Orban/PNL Government - privatisation of Romanian democracy," was tabled in Parliament on Thursday. The motion is signed by 208 MPs of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and UDMR, according to political sources.