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One Single Round of Voting to Elect Mayors 01/06/2011
(2011-06-01)
Last updated: 2011-06-02 13:20 EET Print
In Romania mayors will be elected in one single round of voting instead of two as has happened so far. The measure radically changes the rules for local elections and was voted on Tuesday in the Chamber of Deputies. Adopted tacitly by the Senate the law only needs to be promulgated by President Traian Basescu to become operational and take effect as of the summer of 2012 when the next local elections are scheduled. The government coalition made up of the Liberal Democratic Party, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania and the National Union for the Progress of Romania claims that this is a step forward on the path of reform in local administration. The government majority representatives invoke budget savings and say that mayors should be elected in the same way as the presidents of county councils, namely in one single round of voting. The opposition Social Liberal Union labels the law as undemocratic because a minority can impose its candidate against the majority. Thus the representativeness of those elected is doubtful and their authority diminishes- the Social Liberal Union representatives say. And the old scars of the Romanian countryside politics such as buying votes and bribing the electorate, threaten to get generalized. The new law is contested not only by the opposition but also by certain people in the governing coalition and the media. The press labels the law as stupid because “it raises question marks as to the legitimacy of the future mayors who will be able to win the elections with only a few votes’. Liberal Democratic Euro MP Cristian Preda has called on President Traian Basescu not to promulgate the law, which he himself considers populist saying that it will create further uncertainty in an already chaotic electoral landscape characterized by contradictory voting systems. A political analyst, Cristian Preda warns of the risk of political deadlocks given that it’s highly probable for mayors not to obtain the majority in local councils. The main beneficiary of the new law seems to be the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, a virtual winner of the mayor’s offices in those cities where ethnic Hungarians account for more than 25-30% and where Romanians’ votes will be divided between the Liberal Democrats and the Social Liberal Union. Political analyst Andrei Taranu believes that all parties who have acting mayors will be the winners, because, thanks to the new law, they will get a new mandate easier. He says that the new law infringes on democracy and questions the legitimacy of a mayor elected with 17% of the votes. Political commentator Ion Ionita is even tougher and reminds that only the single Communist Party of Romania ever organized uninominal elections in one single round of voting.

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