The Party “Action and Solidarity” (PAS) expresses its concern about the lack of predictability in the legislation concerning the presidential elections and about the existence of provisions that limit the electoral rights of the possible election runners in the bill that regulates the election of the Head of State, IPN reports, quoting a press release of the party.
According to the PAS, the analysis of the bill that was passed by Parliament in the first reading this April arouses concerns about particular regulations. These refer to the short period for collecting signatures, which is of less than 30 days. “The procedure for collecting signatures is excessively bureaucratized. It includes at least 12 stages, from the compilation of the list of members of the initiative group up to the submission of the lists with signatures to the Central Election Commission. It was established that mayors unjustifiably become involved in the signature collection process,” said the party.
The PAS is also concerned about the regulation providing that the people must not only put their signature on the subscription lists, but to also personally fill out all the blank areas in the subscription lists. Also, an open door is allowed to add additional conditions for candidates for the presidency, which is contrary to Article 78 of the Constitution.
“We wonder if these commitments were included with the aim of unjustifiably hampering the electoral process, including for not allowing inconvenient persons to enter the electoral race, or they form part of a government’s strategy for not adopting changes to the Election Code and, simultaneously, for annulling the presidential elections for the reason that they run counter to the Venice Commission’s recommendation that the electoral legislation should not be amended during a year before the elections,” said the PAS.
The presidential elections were set for October 30.
