Voters who will ask for or accept electoral bribes, personally or through intermediaries, will be punished with fines of 25,000 to 37,500 lei. It goes to money, goods, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, food products, services or other benefits received during the election campaign, on the day before election day or on the election day in order to favor or disfavor a particular electoral contestant. This is stipulated in a draft law that was given a first reading by Parliament, IPN reports.
The legislative initiative to supplement the Contravention Code was put forward by a group of MPs of the Party of Action and Solidarity. The informative note of the bill says that the campaigning materials and objects paid from the electoral fund, bearing the name and surname of the candidate, respectively the name of the political party, signs or symbols of election contestants, are not included in the category of goods covered by penalties, as are not the posters, leaflets, postcards, calendars, notebooks, illustrations, pens, lighters, matchboxes, badges, CDs, DVDs, USB flash drives, pennants, flags, books, bags, T-shirts, hats, scarves. But the condition is that the value per unit should not exceed 100 lei.
“The analysis of the statistics reported by the competent law enforcement agencies, as well as the judicial practice highlighted the fact that, in addition to criminal penalties, administrative penalties are also necessary as they will contribute to the improvement of the mechanism for investigating and documenting cases of electoral corruption,” reads the informative note.
The draft law is to be adopted in the final reading and the new legal provisions will enter into force on the date of publication in the Official Gazette.
