The current method of constituting the Central Election Commission (CEC) can generate suspicions in society as to the political influence exerted on it. This is not fully in accordance with the international standards in the field, said representatives of the Promo-LEX Association, who launched a public call by which they request Parliament to consider the opportunity of amending the electoral legislation on the constitution, mandate and composition of the CEC, IPN reports.

Promo-LEX reminds that during the past few years it has promoted the necessity of amending the Election Code’s provisions concerning the constitution, mandate and composition of the CEC. This way, on July 11, 2019 the Association, through the agency of a public call, presented a lex ferenda providing that all the CEC members should work on a permanent basis and that the number of CEC members should be reduced from nine to seven.

Also, in order to eliminate the monopoly of parliamentary parties in the process of designating CEC members and to guarantee the representativeness of all the powers of the state on the CEC, it was proposed that the members should be nominated by the Presidential Office, Parliament, the Government and the Superior Council of Magistracy so as to implement the Venice Commission’s recommendation to include judges in the CEC’s composition.

On February 13, 2020, Promo-LEX published additionally an opinion on the economic-financial basis of the lex ferenda, which allows making the mandate of CEC member permanent. Through this, it proved that the implementation of the lex ferenda would not necessitate state budget personnel-related costs that would be substantially different from the current ones.

According to the Association, namely now, one year before the expiry of the mandate of the current composition of the CEC, it is opportune to initiate and finalize a legislative procedure on the issue. This is especially important in the context of the Constitutional Court judgment No. 11 of May 7, 2020.