Bill barring convicted felons from public office passed into law in Romania
The lower house of the Romanian Parliament recently adopted two bills prohibiting persons who have been sentenced to jail for crimes committed with criminal intent from occupying a series of high-ranking positions in national and local government.
Felons will be prevented from running for senator, member of parliament, mayor, president of the county council, and local or county councilor. They cannot occupy any of the abovementioned offices if there was no rehabilitation, amnesty, or decriminalization.
The two bills, which provide amendments to law 115/2015 on the election of local public administration authorities and law 208/2015 on the election of members of the upper and lower houses of Parliament, passed with 250 votes in favor and 1 against.
“The project initially started out of the desire to protect children. We all saw how last year a mayor who had sexual relations with a 13-year-old girl for three years was re-elected to a position,” said USR deputy Diana Stoica, one of the initiators, in a statement cited by Agerpres.
She also referred to members of parliament or mayors who have abused children and who so far were able to hold public positions. Now, those who attempt to run despite having been convicted must be removed from the lists of candidates.
Nearly 16,000 children in Romania were abused, either physically, emotionally, or sexually, last year alone, according to Save the Children Romania. The organization had formulated the first draft of the bills and forwarded reports to the Government, Presidency, and Parliament, seeking stronger protections for minors. Eventually, three members of the parliament’s lower house, all from the opposition party USR, backed the bills, amending them and widening their scope.
“We welcome the broadening of the group of people who will be banned from participation in elections. Now, not just children, but all of us will be protected so that communities can no longer be run by people with criminal convictions,” said the organization in a press release.
“We started with a law to protect children, given that the number of convictions indicates that in Romania, at least one child out of five is at risk of becoming a victim of sexual abuse up to the age of 18,” said Cătălin Teniță, one of the three initiators. He referred several high-profile cases of elected officials who were convicted of abusing minors. Some were even reelected after being sentenced.
The bills enjoyed unanimous support in the legislative. Even the far-right nationalist AUR party backed the two bills, citing their zero-tolerance policy towards criminals and pedophiles.
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