Separate elections for President and Parliament

Following the Premier’s surprise statement on Monday in Rome, about PSD (Social Democrat Party) aiming to separate the presidential and the parliamentary elections instead of organising early elections, the head of state took everybody by surprise, as well. Iliescu said it was him who suggested separating elections and organising the parliamentary voting early in 2005, an idea he deemed as “good and feasible.”
“During my meeting with the PSD delegation, I commented and even suggested by commenting on the Constitution provisions this separation could actually be done under the current Constitution,” President Iliescu specified. The head of state discussed with the PSD leaders for about five hours on Friday.
Iliescu said the presidential elections could be held two months before the expiry of the current president’s term, namely October 2004, with the installation of the new president scheduled after January 1, 2005. Iliescu’s term ends in December 2004. Commenting on the stipulations of the Constitution in force, Iliescu said the parliamentary elections could in fact be organised in March 2005.
One of the reasons for separating presidential and parliamentary elections is to prevent certain parties from taking advantage of their “status of an engine propelling a specific candidate,” Iliescu explained.
“The Presidential candidates should compete against each other, while parties should compete through their own candidates for the parliamentary chambers by having separate elections. I think this is a good thing, meaning that they can no longer influence each other and people can judge them separately, the presidential candidates on the one hand and the Senate and Chamber candidates on the other,” the President added.
Ion Iliescu also agrees with PSD’s suggestion to extend the presidential term from four to five years, deeming it as a “feasible” idea. He added he was in favour of introducing the uninominal vote for the Senate, an idea suggested by PSD last week.
“Now, considering the experience gained in all these years, this idea of a need to experiment with the uninominal vote has surfaced more and more often. I for one feel it is the proper thing to do about the Senate especially. I hope our dialogue with the other parties will allow us to reach a joint conclusion,” he added.
The explanations of the head of state came after the announcement made by PM Adrian Nastase in Rome on Monday night. Attending the Socialist International Council, the Prime Minister said the presidential elections would be held in late 2004, while the parliamentary elections could be held early in 2005. The electoral cycle will begin with the local elections in 2004.
Separating the presidential elections from the parliamentary ones is legally possible. The Constitution stipulates that the elections for the Chamber of Deputies and for the Senate may be held in up to three months from the expiry of the term or from the dissolution of Parliament. Since the current Deputies were validated on December 15 and the Senators on December 18, the elections are expected to be held before March 15, 2005.