The ruling party and President Ion Iliescu yesterday launched a piece of shocking news, when they suggested the local, parliamentary and presidential elections should be held on June 6, 2004.
In a brief press statement that did not hint at anything, PM Adrian Nastase half-heartedly brought up the idea of early parliamentary elections held at the same time as the local elections on June 6 instead of December 12, 2004, as previously set by the ruling party leaders. Nastase says the presidential elections could be held a few weeks later. Although it may seem surprising, President Ion Iliescu liked the suggestion and came up with his own: have the presidential elections on June 6, too. The position of the head of state is all the more surprising considering he was the fiercest opponent of early elections, as proposed by Adrian Nastase a year ago. The new dispute comes at a time when things seemed to calm down, as the Government had finally set the election schedule after hesitating to do so for a long time. Local elections were supposed to be conducted on June 6, 2004, the parliamentary and presidential elections were supposed to be held on December 12 and the presidential runoffs were set for one week later.
The election schedule is important for every party, as each of them would want the elections held at a time when it is in the good graces of the voters. Only that the multiple constitutional constraints induce some of the most bizarre arrangements. For instance, the Constitution prohibits organising early elections six months before the expiry of Parliament's mandate (December 11, 2004), therefore no later than June 11, 2004. At the same time, the Constitution says the parliamentary elections must be held no later than three months after the expiry of Parliament's mandate, i.e. until March 11, 2005, so that the first day when such elections may be held is December 12, 2004. The Government's calculations for organising elections in time are therefore accurate as far as the Constitution is concerned. What does not seem right, though, is the reason provided by Adrian Nastase to bring up early elections again: "We've seen a lot of pressure from PD (Democrat Party) and PNL (National Liberal Party) to advance the election deadline. Holding elections on June 6 is an idea I have great reservations to promote and if our colleagues have other ideas, we are open to talk," Nastase said yesterday.
The reluctance of the Prime Minisiter might go away, though, given the unexpected support from the head of state. Iliescu yesterday suggested the Premier to have the PSD and the parliamentary commission for electoral laws debate this. The commission is to also decide whether to introduce uninominal vote for the Senate or whether to drop the runoffs for the local and parliamentary elections, as proposed by PSD.
iulian.anghel@zf.ro
