Romanian executive under fire for changes in electoral rules targeting social media platforms and diaspora
Ten non-governmental organizations in Romania have issued a joint letter criticizing the executive for the emergency ordinance adopted on Thursday, January 16, which provides sanctions, including a turnover tax, for social media giants that fail to obey rules regarding electoral ads.
Another government measure under fire from the opposition limits voting in the diaspora according to Romanian local time.
The 1-5% Turnover Tax
The first ordinance in question stipulates the obligation to mark campaign advertisements on social media. It also contains fines for social media giants that fail to comply with the new rules.
During the government meeting on January 16, prime minister Marcel Ciolacu said that the fines for violating these rules could go up to 5% of the turnover of social media giants.
The measures, which will apply for the upcoming presidential elections in May, were adopted without any meaningful public debate, according to the NGOs.
“There are many aspects of the proposed project that could affect fundamental rights such as freedom of expression, or that directly conflict with existing legislation – the DSA Regulation or Law No. 334 on the financing of political parties and electoral campaigns,” the letter says, cited by G4Media.
Social media platforms will receive notifications from the authorities to mark posts appropriately within 5 hours, otherwise penalties may apply.
The ordinance is also unclear, a fatal flaw for a normative law, the NGOs say.
“It is not clear from the wording of this article that the regulations would refer exclusively to materials published by a political actor or on their behalf, as provided by the European Regulation on political advertising. Legislation regarding online campaigns is already complex and, in some respects, restrictive. It is crucial that the regulation of communication during the electoral campaign does not infringe on the freedom of expression of ordinary citizens who express themselves on social networks,” the letter also says.
Expert Forum, The Association for Technology and Internet, ActiveWatch, the Center for Public Innovation, the Center for the Study of Democracy, Miliția Spirituală, Respiro Human Rights Research Centre, the Civic Resource Center, Maria Krause, independent electoral expert, and CeRe: Resource Center for Public Participation are the signatories of the letter.
Restricted Voting Time
The other government measure under fire, this time by parties in the opposition, restricts voting in the presidential elections to Romania’s time zone. In practice, that means that voting will stop at 9 PM Romania time on the election day, regardless of the country where voting takes place.
“On Sunday, May 4, voting begins in polling stations abroad at 7:00 AM local time but will end either at 9:00 PM local time if we are east of Romania, as it has been until now, or at 9:00 PM Romania time for polling stations west of Romania, in the corresponding time zones. This means that if we go to an extreme case in the United States, at a polling station on Sunday, May 4, voting will end when it is 9:00 p.m. in Romania," said government spokesperson Mihai Constantin on Thursday.
The official mentioned that the measure was adopted at the proposal of the Permanent Electoral Authority so as to eliminate the "time gap for influencing the vote" when polls have closed in Romania but remained open abroad.
Critics say that the restrictive voting time is designed to punish the Romanian diaspora, which showed high levels of support for far-right politician Calin Georgescu or the reformist opposition. PM Ciolacu defended the measure, saying that the state has made efforts to enable Romanians to vote.
“Nowhere in this world, when the voting process ends in the country where the election is held – in our case Romania – does the voting process continue in another country. There is no example you can show me at this moment,”Ciolacu said.
During the first round of the annulled presidential elections of 2024, center-right reformist candidate Elena Lasconi beat the Social Democratic candidate, PM Marcel Ciolacu, by around 2,700 votes, securing the second place and a spot in the runoff. Seeing that the two candidates were close after the polls closed and the exit polls were released, opposition party USR, which Lasconi led, encouraged Romanians in the US to vote for her.
(Photo source: Gov.ro)
