Clotilde Armand Contests Constitutionality Of Single Round Local Elections
USB candidate for Bucharest’s sector 1 mayoralty Clotilde Armand started judicial action Thursday to challenge the constitutionality of single round elections.
“A mayor elected by 10% of registered voters cannot be representative. USB has opposed single round local elections from the beginning,” said Armand, who addressed the court that is to validate the mayor mandate to raise an exception of unconstitutionality to the law regulating local elections. (Adevarul)
Social Democrats Win Over 50% Of Mayor Mandates, Liberals Get One Third
Election results announced by the central electoral bureau after all polling station results in Romania were centralized show the Social Democratic Party won little more votes than the Liberal Party percentage-wise, they got more mayor mandates.
Following single round elections, social democrats won 34.83% of votes countrywide and secured 52.63% of mayor mandates.
The Liberal Party, on the other hand, gained 31.49% of votes but only secured 33.92% of mandates. (Puterea)
ANRE Proposes Lower Transports And System Tariffs For Transelectrica
Romania’s energy regulator ANRE will propose lowering the average tariff for the transport of electricity practiced by Transelectrica by 10.8%, to RON18.7/MWh.
The regulator also wants to lower Transelectrica’s system service tariff by 6.3%, to RON12.88/MWh in the period July 1, 2016 – June 30, 2017.
State-owned Transelectrica is the sole power transporter and has asked to raise its tariffs but its proposal was rejected by the regulator. Transelectrica asked for an average transport tariff of RON19.78/MWh and a system service tariff of RON16.01/MWh. (Adevarul)
Debt Discharge Beneficiaries May Get Property Tax Exemption
Romanians who were unable to pay back their mortgage loans and have chosen to give up their homes to the bank found they had to pay large amounts as property transfer tax and notary fees.
The finance ministry is now working on an emergency ordinance to exempt people walking away from their properties under the debt discharge law from paying property transfer taxes. However, this tax exemption is to be applied just one in a lifetime. (Romania Libera)
Labor Minister Says Raising Pension Point Is Impossible
Raising the value of the pension point at this time is impossible due to tax cuts that generate lower budget revenue, sad labor minister Dragos Pislaru.
He said the state cannot raise benefits when it has cut taxes and, consequently, gets lower budget revenues. Pislaru added politicians should be very careful what they promise ahead of elections because some measures are simply not feasible. (Puterea)