2007 designated by CEC as year of civic conscience

The Central Electoral Commission designated 2007 as the year of civic conscience. Following this line, CEC will organise a range of actions on this topic, which will pursue the goal of raising public awareness of civil society and political parties in order to boost citizens’ responsibility for the state of affairs in the community. According to CEC chairman Eugeniu Stirbu, the Commission decided to dedicate this year to civic conscience due to the general local elections and in order to increase the citizens’ attendance at the polling stations. CEC programme for 2007 provides a range of activities in order to prepare and organise general local elections. Thus, in the period from January to February the electoral lists will be verified and adjusted; plans for instructing representatives of the parties, social politic organisations, NGOs and potential observers will be worked out and adopted. In the February to May period, responsible persons will work out scenarios, create cartoons, and publish brochures and posters in order to form the civic conscience of the electors in the domain of the electoral process. In March, CEC will organise a roundtable with parties, social political organisations, electoral blocs and mass-media representatives for consultations and in order to sign the Ethics Code. In October, CEC will publish the brochure on the totals of the local elections “Electorala 2007”, and in November it will organise the scientific-practical International Conference “Elections 2007 – experience, problems, expectations, and conclusions after 10 years of CEC permanent activity”. It is foreseen that general local elections will be held in the period from May to June. The last general local elections took place on May 25, 2003.