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Local elections campaign to kick off today under strict pandemic rules
The local elections campaign kicks off on Friday, with the hopefuls for the office of mayor, County Council president, or for a seat in the local and County Councils having one month at their disposal to win the voters for the September 27 ballot.
The campaign ends on Saturday, September 26, at 7:00 hrs.
This will be an atypical campaign, as it will be conducted according to specific health protection rules ordered in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. The government and the Permanent Electoral Authority come up with a set of rules aimed at protecting the health of citizens who interact with the candidates and their staff during the campaign, with mask-wearing being paramount.
"There will be regulations regarding physical distancing and the organization of electoral events, (...) the number of participants must be limited. Obviously, mask-wearing at such electoral events with interaction with the citizens will be mandatory. Regarding the distribution of campaign materials, the field staffers who hand them out should wear gloves and carry disinfectants, so as to reduce the risk of transmitting the virus through the hand-outs, if they do not resort to mailing them by post. Also, regarding the organization of the voting day, all the representatives in the electoral bureaus will be supplied with five masks for a 24-hour period, for the day when the activity takes place. We are considering physical distancing rules for the case where voters stand in line to exercise their right to vote," Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said on August 12.
*** During the election campaign, the candidates, political parties, political and electoral alliances or organizations of national minority ethnics running for office, as well as the citizens are entitled to expressing their opinions freely and without any discrimination at rallies, meetings, on air in TV and radio broadcasts, in mass media. The campaigning means shall not be against the law.
The organization of campaign events in military units, as well as in schools and universities during classes is forbidden.
The use of discriminatory messages or slogans, or of hate or intolerance inciting messages is forbidden, as are all the forms, means, or actions of defamation and religious or ethnic division, and public insult to religious symbols.
* Mayors are obliged to design until the beginning of the electoral campaign special places for electoral billboards and to ensure the display of electoral advertisements therein, taking into account the number of political parties, of citizens' organizations belonging to national minorities, political and electoral alliances that report having submitted lists of candidates, candidacies for the office of mayor and County Council president, as well as of independent candidates. These places must be located in areas frequented by citizens, without obstructing traffic on public roads and other activities in the respective localities.
Electoral posters that combine colors or other graphic signs so as to reference the national symbols of Romania or of another state are forbidden.
*** The terms of the current holders of local office, which were due to expire in June, have been extended. The decision was taken considering the impossibility to hold elections for the local public administration authorities in the current epidemiological context, because pre-election and electoral activities could not have been carried out without major risks to public health and without violating the medical safety measures.