Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) Chairman George Simion said on Tuesday that he is considering boycotting the June 9 elections „in one form or another” because the state has been „captured,” its institutions being „under the control of the merged party,” which is why two-round elections for mayors and county council presidents cannot be held and „there is no hope of winning democratically.”

„The state has been captured, given that the bill proposed by AUR (election of mayors and county council presidents in two rounds, ed.n.) (…) has no chance of being adopted in this legislature, where county councils, city halls, justice, intelligence services, Constitutional Court, Ombudsman, all are under the control of the merged party. We are considering and will propose to other political forces to boycott the local elections in one form or another. Because without two-round elections there is no hope of winning democratically,” Simion told a press conference at the Palace of Parliament.

He added that AUR is willing to make „extreme but democratic gestures” to express its disapproval.

„We do not live in a democracy at the moment and we are willing to make extreme but democratic gestures to show our disapproval. Just like that! If we have an electoral legislation and if the Venice Commission and any other common sense rule is not taken into account, we might end up boycotting the illegal and unconstitutional elections on June 9,” Simion said.

In this context, the AUR leader said that „there are attempts to censor social networks.”

„Of course they can try to control certain media, of course they can give money from the budget to certain distribution networks (…). It’s not going to help them, people know who they are,” Simion pointed out.

In his opinion, another form that „blocks” the access of new parties to political life is the „far too high” number of signatures required by the electoral competitors.

AGERPRES