The organization of the consultative referendum simultaneously with the parliamentary elections of February 24, 2019 is based on a legal framework that was adopted in a hurry, at the end of the pre-electoral period and without public consultations, ascertained the election observation mission of “Promo-LEX” Association, IPN reports.
In a news conference, “Promo-LEX” programs director Pavel Postican said the holding of a consultative referendum concurrently with the parliamentary elections distorts the idea of conduct of the parliamentary elections for a number of reasons. The voters can find themselves in the situation of being unable to make a difference between electoral agitation for the referendum and that for the parliamentary elections. The merger will confuse the voters, will unjustifiably increase the costs of the exercise and will substantially impede the holding of the plebiscite and elections.
As regards the subjects of the referendum, Pavel Postica reminded that one of them refers to the recalling of MPs. This subject apparently seems unconstitutional and runs counter to international practices and cannot be implemented from technical viewpoint under the current system of electing MPs.
