Over 20 nongovernmental organizations made an appeal concerning the lack of transparency in the process of adopting amendments and supplements regarding the presidential elections to the Election Code. In this connection, the signatories call on the Parliament’s administration and the working group that drafted the bull to organize a public debate, IPN reports.
The representatives of civil society say that no public debate or consultation was held during the elaboration and adoption of the bill in the first reading. But the public authorities, in particular Parliament, are obliged to consult the people, expert associations and other interested sides about the draft normative and administrative documents that can have a social impact on the lifestyle and rights of the people. Also, restoring the right of citizens to choose directly their President is vitiated by lack of transparency in the adoption of legislation by which this law will be put into practice.
“The lack of regulations may clearly vitiate the process of electing the President and may constitute grounds for numerous political accusations between different actors and/or candidates. Worse, the lack of clear regulations may favour non-transparent funding of the campaign for collecting signatures and/or the use of the campaign for collecting signatures as a disguised part of electoral campaigning,” says the appeal.
In this connection, the signatory organizations ask the administration of Parliament and/or the working group that drafted the bill to hold a public discussion/debate on the bill, where the authors’ opinion, the position and notification of the Venice Commission would be presented and where the position of civil society organizations, extraparliamentary political parties on the mentioned bill would be listen to. Moreover, the signatory organizations express their readiness to facilitate the public debate on the mentioned bill by offering neutral space and the logistic support needed to organize a public event in this regard.
Among the signatories of the appeal are Promo-LEX Association, East Europe Foundation, the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul”, the Independent Journalism Center, the Association of Independent Press, the Foundation for Development and the Association for Participatory Democracy.
