Senate passes vote by mail draft law

The draft law regarding the vote by mail was passed by 117 votes to ten on Monday by the Senate, Romania’s upper chamber of the Parliament. The law is to be sent to the Chamber of Deputies which is the decision-making body in this case, with the vote being scheduled next Wednesday.

The Electoral Code Committee had passed the senators’ amendments to the bill previously in the day.

Last week, the Electoral Code Committee assumed the draft on vote by mail tabled by the Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP), while the Senate operating only technical amendments on it. Therefore, one of the senators’ amendments was that the envelopes with the votes by mail should be opened after the closing of the ballot boxes, after 9 p.m. and not during 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., as AEP initially decided.

The National Liberal Party spokesperson Ionut Stroe says the Liberals endorse the draft tabled by AEP and has no amendments to file, as the draft already contains 90 percent of the Liberals’ amendments.

“We want a quick debate, as we are conditioned by time, the bill must be adopted by early November (…),” Stroe argued.

PNL spokesperson also said that it remained to be seen of the ruling Social Democrat Party would also endorse the draft during the plenary sitting.

No later than last week, the Senate Speaker Calin Popescu Tariceanu criticized the draft law, saying it’s bureaucratic and can be easily defrauded.