Elections have passed. Parties are preparing for holidays. Promises for electoral reform have already been forgotten. What matters most: the electoral score or civil rights?

Bucharest, June 14, 2009 ■ Taking into account the phenomena during the elections day as well as the worrying absenteeism for European parliamentary elections – Romania being the 24^th country out of 27 EU member states in what concerns voters’ turnout – the Institute for Public Policy (IPP) calls Romanian political parties not to abort the responsibility of stimulating debate and deciding in major issues that have generates disputes within this period.

1.     The initiative of annulling the supplementary voting lists/to prohibit voting on such lists

We appreciate that, as long as electors travelling for one reason or another, during elections day, are not offered the possibility of voting, the interdiction of constitutional right to vote is an abusive measure. It is more worrying the fact that this idea is supported by non-governmental organizations pretending to promote human rights. The fact that allegedly, but not yet proven, cases of multiple voting have been brought to public attention, it doesn’t mean that all 668,217 electors on supplementary lists must be labeled as delinquents and deprived of their right to vote. The state/parties organizing elections should be hold accountable for their (in)capacity of providing a proper framework for elections, NOT to interdict a fundamental civic right to vote for those people intending to exercise their rights.

2.     Introducing the anticipated vote (mail and internet)

IPP appreciates that introducing such voting alternatives should become a priority, as the elections must keep with the realities of the modern world. During the recent scrutiny for the European Parliaments, nearly 20% of Finnish have voted anticipated by using such method. We are confident that it is only in the political will for having such instruments available for the Romanian electorate by the end of this year. The state must repair its weaknesses (by ensuring technical conditions guaranteeing the security of correspondence) and not by interdicting Romanian citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote.  

3.     The mandatory vote

Another initiative that shows no respect for human rights and for democracy is that of the possibility of introducing the mandatory vote. In Romania, a fundamental right suddenly turns into an obligation, if politicians wanted so. Moreover, the premise that the mandatory vote will guarantee a significant turnout is fake. The few countries that are using mandatory vote are also confronting legitimacy of such a solution. The supporters of this idea should think also that imposing an obligation also means institutionalizing penalties for the million citizens whom will not vote. And an obligation which, once infringed, does not attract sanction, makes no sense. If politicians who wish to push citizens to vote insist, they would have better started by introducing a provision forcing themselves to vote each and every decision adopted by the Parliament and to be sanctioned in case of infringement. According to IPP’s reports, there is no Romanian MP having a presence of 100% in plenum sessions, thus no sanction seems effective enough.

4.     Changing the voting day

IPP considers that a higher turnout might be stimulated by organizing elections during a working day. This should not be linked with the first or last working days of the week, but to be on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Employers should allow employees few spare hours for voting. Parties should analyze this proposal in relation to the societal evolution and with re-gaining a major part of Romania’s active population.

5.     Improving the permanent electoral lists

IPP calls for update of the socio-demographic data by the National Inspectorate for Citizen’s Registration, under the sanction of dismissal of the leadership of the institution. It is well known the fact that half of the persons that vote on supplementary lists and are labeled as “electoral tourists” are persons that live in the respective area of the voting section, but do not appear on the lists due to material errors of those elaborating these lists. For example, during parliamentary and presidential elections 2004, when these persons were listed on separate lists, figures showed that the number of persons voting on supplementary lists, but within the voting sections they belonged to, was of 541,630.

6.     Reducing the number of voting sections within the same facility

On the occasion of the recent Euro-parliamentary elections, in Romania there were 18,317 voting sections, some of which have registered such a low number of persons voting as there is no proper justification for the personnel/logistics. IPP suggests for the future to reduce the number of voting sections by unifying them two by two, whenever such sections are in the same facility. The measure could not only lead to financial savings, but also to celerity in centralizing elections results. An example is Bucharest municipality, where we had a total number of 1,222 voting sections in 287 facilities, that is an average of 2,4 sections/center. Each of these sections was waiting for an average number of 1004 electors, while they registered an average of 277 persons voting/section. We consider thus that halving the number of voting sections could substantially reduce the costs, without putting a pressure onto the remaining sections.

7.     Forgery in supporters’ lists for candidates

IPP considers that the Prosecutor’s Offices have enough evidences in the cases of candidates that have scored a total number of votes far below the number of 200,000 signatures needed for registering candidature for starting investigations. IPP has proposed for years the replacement of the shameful supporters’ lists with financial guarantees for registering for elections, such guarantees being given back to the candidate only if he/she scored at least half of the electoral threshold.

We thus call for parties to get involved together with the civil society in an open, public debate within the next period, for finding the most proper solutions for contributing to an increased turnout and, by that, for winning an adequate popular support that legitimizes the elected. The debate must be generated right about now, in order to count on recent electoral experiences and to avoid adoption of certain measures just days before the up-coming presidential elections, as it has become a habit in Romania. At the same time, the debate must not fall in populism, by going that far as to interdict the right to vote, or sanctioning the Romanian electorate for the lack of credibility that Romanian parties are facing, such an approach being dangerous for the evolution of democracy in Romania.

For further details, please contact  Adrian Moraru, Deputy Director, at phone: 40 21 212 3126/27, mobile 40724237229 or e-mail: adrian@ipp.ro.