The governing Civic Union and its junior partner, the Green Alliance, have privately agreed to bring the next national election forward by around seven months and to hold it on the same day as local and regional polls, according to internal documents seen by News.
The 46-page paper, marked confidential and initialed by the chief negotiators of both parties late last month, sets out a timetable under which the National Assembly would be dissolved in early spring. Voters would then elect members of parliament, regional councils and city councils on a single Sunday in May, instead of in three separate rounds spread over almost a year.
A senior Civic Union official, who asked not to be named because the agreement has not been made public, confirmed that the document is genuine but described it as “a working draft that still needs sign-off from both party boards.” The prime minister’s office declined to comment.
What the documents say
The paper goes well beyond the date. It sets out three linked commitments:
- A fast-track bill changing the electoral law, to be tabled in the National Assembly before the winter recess.
- A single election day, which the paper’s own estimate says would save about 38 million euros in printing, staffing and polling station costs.
- Civic Union support, before the vote, for the Green Alliance’s long-demanded coastal protection fund of 1.2 billion euros.
The last point appears to be the price of the deal. In a handwritten note in the margin of page 31, a negotiator describes the fund as “non-negotiable for our side.” Green Alliance leaders have pushed for it for three years, citing repeated flooding in Port Alden and other coastal towns.
Comments 3
Strong reporting. This is exactly why I pay for a subscription.
Three ballots on one day will mean long queues in Riverton. The commission is right to worry.
If it saves 38 million euros, I don’t mind one election day. I do mind that we only hear about it from a leak.