Thursday, March 04, 2021

The Academy of Political Studies, in cooperation with the Society for Democratic Culture and the Institute of Political Studies, formally submitted to the Central Election Commission a request to amend the regulation (Decision no.9 / 2020) “On the reporting of prohibited activities of senior public officials during the pre-election period”.   The experience of these first two months of operation of the restrictions provided in the Electoral Code as well as the decision-making of the Complaints and Sanctions Commission (KAS), has made it necessary to review the regulation approved by the CEC Regulatory Commission. Furthermore, the circumstances and the conduct of the parties subject to the foreseen restrictions may create the need for these orders to be changed and improved in order to guarantee the spirit of the Electoral Code.   More specifically, the three submitted proposals are :  

• Amendment of point 1.1 of the article 3 of Decision 9/2020 by removing the phrase "for which they have been recently or specially made available, or public funds have been transferred not according to the approved budget plan"
• Inclusion of social media in the definition of "public media", hence avoiding any kind of limitations and incoherence in identifying and defining what "public activity" is comprised of
• Clarification of the administrative responsibility of officials that are subject to restrictions of prohibited activities.