PM Orban says current system restricts citizens' right to replace unsatisfactory mayors

The government has made the decision to assume responsibility before Parliament for amending the law on local elections so that the voting system bestows legitimacy on elected mayors, as the current mechanism restricts the right of dissatisfied citizens to replace a mayor who does not his or her job, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said on Wednesday. "The government I lead has made the decision to assume responsibility before Parliament for changing the law on local elections so as to allow the citizens of each local community to elect their mayors under a system of election that lends legitimacy to the elected mayors - namely by a 50%-plus-one majority of the voters who cast ballots," Orban said at a meeting in Parliament for the Government assuming responsibility for two-round mayoral elections. He said that the current system is restricting the right of disaffected citizens to replace a mayor. "This voting system restricts the right of the disaffected citizens of a local community to replace mayors who do not do their job, who do not abide by electoral promises and who has not had the capacity to develop the local community," said Orban. AGERPRES (RO - author: Alina Novaceanu, editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)