Romania presidential election 2019: ODIHR observation mission final report

Following the presidential election in Romania on 10 and 24 November 2019, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has published its final report.  

The report concludes that the 2019 presidential election was competitive, pluralistic, and offered voters a genuine choice from a broad spectrum of political alternatives. Campaigning took place in an open atmosphere with respect for fundamental freedoms. The media offered limited election coverage, reflecting the low-key campaign, but informed voters of the different political options. Though certain aspects of election-related legislation could be improved, the election was effectively administered and generally enjoyed public confidence. Recent amendments to the campaign finance legislation significantly increased public funding for parliamentary parties.  

The report offers 23 recommendations to enhance the conduct of elections in Romania and to support efforts to bring them fully in line with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections. The recommendations include:   

• Adopting an election code applicable to all types of elections through an inclusive process, following consultations with relevant stakeholders to eliminate inconsistencies generated by the concurrent application of several laws. 

• Removing restrictions on the suffrage rights of persons with mental disabilities and introducing provisions to ensure that the deprivation of the right to vote for people with a judicial sentence are based on clear criteria respecting proportionality. 

• Developing specific procedures for verifying support signatures and making them public sufficiently ahead of the signature collection process. 

• Increasing transparency by opening the sessions of the election administration bodies to the public, publishing the decisions and minutes of the sessions in a timely and consistent manner, and by defining the rights and obligations of observers in the election legislation, ensuring full access of domestic and international observers to all stages of the electoral process. 

• Introducing the possibility of a judicial review of Central Election Bureau decisions by a court of law with adjudication timeframe within the electoral period. 

• Revising the sanctions for campaign finance violations to make them effective, proportionate and dissuasive. 

ODIHR deployed an Election Assessment Mission on 29 October 2019 to observe the presidential election. All countries across the OSCE region have formally committed to following up promptly on ODIHR’s election assessments and recommendations.