Local elections will require a EUR 23 million budget this year in Romania, one third higher than in 2008, according to Mediafax newswire. Authorities will organize local elections on June 10 this year. Candidates have until May 1 to register and election campaigns will start on May 11.

Last year, Emil Boc’s pre-protest Government assumed responsibility in the Parliament for organizing joint local and Parliamentary elections. The country’s Constitutional Court however ruled that joint elections would be unlawful.

The then Government said joint elections would save the country some EUR 21 million, bringing down the cost of organizing elections to EUR 22 million. The Social Democratic Party, an opposition party that opposed the joint elections, said changing election law five months prior to organizing votes would violate European laws.

editor@romania-insider.com