#2019PresidentialElection PMP and UDMR candidates believe Constitution reform needed

The People's Movement Party (PMP) and the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) candidates to Romania's presidency, Theodor Paleologu and Kelemen Hunor, maintained on Saturday, during a debate organised within the "Know your candidate" campaign, that a constitutional reform is needed, however each having different opinions on the topic. During the debate launched by the leaders of the youth movement of Romania, the UDMR candidate, Kelemen Hunor, answered one of the young people that a constitutional reform is needed, at the same time mentioning that he is the partisan of a parliamentary system, not a semi-presidential one. "In the European Union there are very few states with a semi-presidential structure. I believe that in Romania it would be a huge mistake to give enhanced powers to one man, regardless of how wise he is, how much of a thinker he is, because one is at rule today and tomorrow there is someone else. There must be a balance in respect to the state powers. I am the partisan of the parliamentary republic. I am in favour of a proportional system for electing Parliament. Most certainly, here we can discuss the preferential order, establish the order, but the result must be proportional. Each vote produces a mandate where the vote was cast. Not elsewhere, because this isn't fair. It is not democratic to cast the vote in one place and generate a mandate in another. I don't believe the Romanian society is an angelical society, producing every once in a while, once in four years, a diabolical parliament. No. Parliament is a faithful mirror of the society," Kelemen Hunor said. He mentioned that a shift in the citizens' mentality is needed, in order to eliminate electoral corruption. "We must see how we manage to change people's mentality, and we get to education, to manage to change the society so that this electoral corruption should no longer exist, should no longer be possible, be reduced, be kept from influence voting. I don't believe voting should be reshaped. (...) I am for bicameralism, but I would like to separate the prerogatives of the Chambers, as at the moment they are not separate. This is why the blockage comes up, this is why there are delays. A construction can be found under which the two Chambers have different duties. When it comes to investing the government, approving the budget, there are similar duties. As for the rest, there are completely separate duties," the UDMR candidate also said. In his turn, the PMP candidate in the presidential elections, Theodor Paleologu, also replied he wants an amendment of the Constitution, but in the sense of enhancing the president's prerogatives. "We are both speaking of a Constitution amendment. It is true that not in the same way. Mr. Kelemen, for a parliamentary republic, and I believe most Romanians are attached to the principle of electing the president by universal suffrage. This makes me infer that the president needs enhanced powers: to be able to dissolve Parliament without the current difficult procedure, to be able to organise early elections, to be able to replace the prime minister when the situation in Parliament allows it. In terms of diplomacy, Romania's representation," Theodor Paleologu answered. The PMP candidate in the presidential elections also said during the debate that in his opinion the voting system with closed lists is "a voting system with very bad consequences." At the same time, he mentioned that a different voting system is needed, a more democratic one and better than the current one. "In 2007, the overwhelming majority of those who participated in the referendum voiced themselves in favour of electing deputies and senators by majority vote in two rounds. I am the partisan of giving up an electoral system that was rejected by the overwhelming majority of Romanians, because the proportional voting with closed lists is a voting system with very bad consequences, encourages opportunism and servility inside parties. I believe it is a coherence of the political project I have, of what I believe particracy is. I believe particracy is the source of many evils in the Romanian society. (...) I wish I could persuade to have a different voting system, more democratic, better than the current one," Paleologu also said. Former Culture ministers Theodor Paleologu and Kelemen Hunor, now two of the candidates to Romania's presidency, were the only ones who accepted the invitation to participate in the debate organised under the "Know your candidate" campaign. Organised as part of the "Iasi, the Youth Capital of Romania 2019 - 2020" events, the campaign was initiated by the leaders of the youth movement of Romania. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniela Malache, editor: George Onea; EN - editor: Adina Panaitescu)