Romania parliamentary elections 2020: OSCE/ODIHR Special election assessment mission final report
The 2020 parliamentary elections in Romania were competitive, respecting fundamental freedoms, and organized professionally, despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the late adoption of a number of regulations. While the legal framework generally provided for the conduct of democratic elections, its quality was affected by numerous amendments that led to legal uncertainty. The lack of effective mechanisms to promote women’s political participation indicated the need for a greater commitment to more equal representation. These are some of the main conclusions to be found in the final report published today by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
The report offers 22 recommendations to further improve the conduct of elections, increase transparency and raise public confidence in the electoral process.
Recommendations
Key recommendations include:
- Revising the legal framework, following a broad and timely consultation, in order to ensure a harmonized, coherent and stable electoral framework
- Considering additional incentives to provide more favourable conditions for candidates of both genders to stand for elections
- Removing undue restrictions during the campaign period to ensure the freedom of candidates to campaign
- Ensuring effectiveness of campaign finance oversight by strengthening the mandate of the Permanent Electoral Authority as well as relevant legislation
- Making detailed campaign finance reports of election contestants, and their analysis, publicly available in a timely manner
- Including explicit provisions on the right of observers to be present at all stages of the electoral process
The ODIHR Special Election Assessment Mission for the 6 December 2020 parliamentary elections in Romania took up its work on 12 November 2020 and remained in the country until 13 December 2020.
All 57 OSCE participating States have formally committed to follow up promptly on ODIHR’s election assessments and recommendations.