Parliament gave a first reading to a bill that imposes restrictions on running in elections for representatives of parties that were outlawed. The limitation will be valid for three years of the date the Constitutional Court passes the decision by which the party is declared unconstitutional, IPN reports.

This way, persons who at the moment the political party was outlawed were members of this party’s executive body, held elective posts or were on the lists of substitute candidates on behalf of the outlawed party will be unable to run in elections.

The head of the legal commission for appointments and immunities Olesea Stamate said in Parliament that elements used by outlawed parties cannot be used by other political parties, electoral blocs or election runners or the Public Services Agency can refuse to register the party that uses such attributes. The goal is to exclude possibilities of avoiding the effects of an eventual Constitutional Court decision by which a party is declared unconstitutional.

“I want to note that this bill was evidently drafted in a particular context and in the wake of the Constitutional Court’s decision. It should be clear that it refers not to one party, but to any political party with behavior similar to the recently outlawed party. Respectively, this mechanism is extremely important for preventing other political parties from flagrantly breaking the law in the future,” stated Olesea Stamate.

The bill is to be given a final reading.