The ombudswoman made a call for correctness and respect for the human rights in the campaign prior to the snap parliamentary elections of July 11. She encourages the parties running in the elections to sign a code of conduct that they would obey, IPN reports.
According to Maia Bănărescu, the previous elections showed that the human rights were oftehn violated in the electoral competition. The rules of the game were brutally ignored so as to obtain votes at any cost, by manipulation, harassment of opponents, distribution of fake news, promotion of racist, xenophobic and homophobic messages.
The ombudswoman called on the election runners to adopt a behavior based on the respect for the human rights and dignity, for the opponents and voters. The aggressive election campaigns can only cause disappointment among the voters and discourage them from taking part in the democratic electoral process. Aggression and psychological violence in election campaigns can have only negative effects and can implicitly affect the fundamental right to exercise the electoral rights, while the use of images of minors for electoral purposes is not permitted.
Maia Bănărescu urges to ensure appropriate and reasonably adjusted conditions for enabling the persons with all types of disability and those who are in residential institutions to vote.
The Ombudspersons’ Office will monitor the election campaign and the elections and will incorporate the general findings into its report on the respect for the basic human rights and freedoms for 2021.