Institute for Social Integration requires changes in CEC

The provision for taking decisions with a two-thirds majority of the Central Election Commission (CEC) should be deleted from the Election Code. CEC should also be deprived of the right to not allow political parties to participate in elections. Other provisions in the Election Code should be reconsidered, too. This is the stance of the Institute for Social Integration, expressed today when announcing the results of a monitoring called “Democratic, Transparent and Fair Elections”.

According to the Institute for Social Integration, the recent presidential and local government elections were not sufficiently democratic and fair, information was manipulated and financing was not transparent.

Veronica Deribaltova from the institute’s team of lawyers explained that the number of signatures required for the registration of a party should be reduced in compliance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission.

According to the organisation, the provision stipulating a certain period of permanent and current registration in a municipality in order to qualify as a mayoral candidate in local elections is “a restriction of democracy”.

“A citizen may possess real estate property, pay taxes, be born in a certain settlement, his/her children may study there, but in order to qualify for a mayoral candidate there, he/she has to be entered in the respective registers of the municipality 10 months, 18 months or perhaps 18 years before the elections, stating that this is his/her permanent and current address,” said Deribaltova. According to the Institute for Social Integration, the registration of a permanent and current address is almost “servitude”.

According to the analysts, the monitoring has confirmed the concerns about an existing trend of violating democracy in the electoral process. The quality of the election legislation is worsening, election canvassing is becoming more dishonest, manipulative and unequal, claimed the institute.

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