The Party of European Socialists rejects the announced change in the rules of the Romanian local and county elections, just months away from the election date in May.

According to the amendments, planned by the governing parties in Romania, mayors and city councillors would now be elected in two rounds rather than one, reverting back to the previous system dating from 2011.

PES President Sergei Stanishev said:

"You don’t change the rules in the middle of the game. Rewriting the election’s legislation only months away from an election is an abuse of power inspired by political opportunism. It also violates the standards of good practice in electoral matters according to the Venice Commission."

This proposed unexpected change is particularly shocking, coming from the exact same parties who established the current voting system some years ago.

Sergei Stanishev added:

"The PES is also worried that the ruling party in Romania intends to legitimise the changes using an urgent procedure, and this would be a violation of the Romanian constitution and 30 years of democratic political tradition. We expect the governing parties to backtrack on this decision."