The former member of the Superior Council of the Magistracy, Adrian Toni Neacșu, states that the Government must issue the Decision on the organization of the first round of the presidential elections on March 23, 2025, no later than January 7, 2025.
Adrian Toni Neacșu, former CSM judge PHOTO: The truth
“If the Government wants to respect the political agreement reached regarding the organization of the first round of the presidential elections on March 23, 2025, then the last day on which it can issue the Government Decision is Tuesday, January 7. (…) From a legal point of view, it is impossible, and the start of the new elections cannot begin with gross illegality”, says Adrian Toni Neacșu in a post on Facebook.
The magistrate maintains that, according to the law (art. 5 paragraph 1 of Law 370/2004), the date of the elections is established by GD at least 75 days before the date of the elections.
“This means that the elections cannot be established earlier than the 76th day from the day on which the Government decision is published in the Official Gazette and thus enters into force. Considering the way this term is calculated, the last day on which can issue a GD to allow the organization of the first round on March 23, 2025 is Tuesday, January 7, provided that on the same day it is also published in the Official Gazette”, Neacșu explains.
According to him, the later the Government issues this Government Decision, the less time the candidates will have to collect the necessary 200,000 signatures of support, given that according to the calendar, “legally, the last day to submit applications will be January 31 or February 1.
“At the end of January and the beginning of February, we will once again have the unpredictable spectacle of judging appeals to candidacies by the Constitutional Court!“, writes Adrian Toni Neacșu, writes news.ro.
The first round of the presidential elections would take place on March 23, according to the principle agreement reached on Saturday by the leaders of the governing coalition.
According to some sources from the coalition, the leaders of the PSD, PNL UDMR and the group of national minorities have agreed, in principle, on the date of the presidential elections. Thus, the first round could take place on March 23, 2025, and the second on April 6, 2025.
According to the law, at least 75 days before the voting day, the Government sets the date of the elections by decision. The decision on setting the date of the elections is adopted at the proposal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Permanent Electoral Authority.
The Constitutional Court decided unanimously, on December 6, 2024, when voting abroad for the second round of the presidential elections had already begun, to cancel the entire electoral process for the election of the President of Romania, and a new date and a new electoral calendar were to be established for the implementation of the actions necessary.
The article of the Constitution invoked by the judges of the Constitutional Court stipulates that the CCR ensures compliance with the procedure for the election of the President of Romania and confirms the voting results.
“The main aspects imputed to the electoral process regarding the election of the President of Romania in 2024 are those regarding the manipulation of the voters’ vote and the distortion of the equal opportunities of the electoral competitors, through the non-transparent use and in violation of the electoral legislation of digital technologies and artificial intelligence in the conduct of the electoral campaign, as well as by financing the electoral campaign from undeclared sources, including online”, underlines CCR.
At the same time, the Court argued that the article of the Constitution is applicable according to which the Romanian president in office “exercises the mandate until the newly elected president is sworn in”, so that President Klaus Iohannis, whose mandate ended on December 21, remained in office.
