The Central Election Commission excluded the modification of the decision concerning the approval of the expenditure estimate for the July 11 snap parliamentary elections from the agenda of its May 19 meeting following a letter received from acting Prime Minister Aureliu Ciocoi, IPN reports.

CEC chairman Dorin Cimil said that half an hour before the meeting, the CEC received the letter saying that it was decided to allocate 70 million lei from the Government’s reserve fund for launching the preparations for elections. The letter notes the Government is ready to allocate the rest of the necessary funds to the CEC as of June 20, “after all the costs that could not be fully estimated at the planning stage are determined exhaustively”.

In this connection, CEC secretary Maxim Lebedinschi proposed that the issue concerning the expenditure estimate for elections should be excluded from the agenda. “I consider it is opportune to take a decision after we have all the final, real and effective calculations concerning costs,” he stated. The proposal was accepted by the votes of six CEC members.

At the end of April, the CEC approved the expenditure estimate for the organization and holding of the snap parliamentary elections of July 11, 2021 at 125.046,7 million lei. The Government decided to allocate 70 million lei from its Reserve Fund and to recommend the CEC to review the planned election-related costs down. Acting Prime Minister Aureliu Ciocoi said the funds needed for conducting the elections will be allocated in several tranches.