Cs proposes to reform the electoral law so that parties with convictions for corruption do not access subsidies

He also wants to replace the D'Hont method or prevent the elections from coinciding with Christmas or Easter

MADRID, 9 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The deputy of Ciudadanos Juan Ignacio López-Bas announced this Thursday that the formation has presented a Proposal for an Organic Law to modify the electoral law, the LOREG, which seeks, among other aspects, that parties that maintain people convicted of corruption cannot access electoral subsidies.

The bill contemplates modifications in the electoral system, the electoral process, the campaign and the sanctioning regime. In reference to the electoral system, the 'orange' formation has suggested that the Congress of Deputies be "more proportional" by reducing the number of deputies assigned by constituency to one base, ensuring a distribution of seats among the provinces that reflects "better" its population.

In addition, he has proposed changing the electoral formula, substituting the D'Hont method --an average system to assign seats-- for the Hare quota, considered the most accurate from the perspective of proportionality.

As for the Senate, the 'orange' formation wants it to "really" represent the territories, for which it has proposed the election of senators in single-member constituencies. Thus, each territory would have its own senator to represent it "effectively." He has also proposed the single transferable vote with a view to "preventing" the vote of some citizens from being worth less than another. Likewise, it has suggested direct election of the councils, following the model of island councils in the Canary Islands.

In reference to the electoral process, Ciudadanos asks that electoral subsidies not be accrued to parties that maintain people convicted of corruption crimes, that fugitives from Justice are ineligible, that Sunday be the day of holding elections as a general rule and that the elections be brought forward or delayed to avoid them coinciding with Christmas or Easter.

On the other hand, the proposal contemplates that, during the electoral campaign, at least two mandatory electoral debates be held, that the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) evaluate the electoral programs and that a unique 'mailing' system be implemented to reduce expenses in the campaigns.

In addition, Ciudadanos has pointed to a reduction in the restrictions on the publication of surveys in the last days of the campaign and the implementation of greater transparency requirements for polling companies, which in electoral periods has to include whether they have received income from some political formation.

Finally, in reference to the electoral sanctioning regime, the 'orange' party has proposed increasing the fines for electoral infractions and modifying the crime in the matter of electoral polls to reinforce the penalties against those who manipulate polls in order to "misinform" and " intoxicate" the public debate.

The sanctions will have to be greater the closer the infraction is to the day of the election, as this will have more serious consequences. Likewise, it has suggested typifying a new crime of impediment of electoral convening.

Ciudadanos alleges that the LOREG was designed in a different era, the Transition, and bearing in mind the plurality of actors that threatened the system and the memory of the instability of the coalitions in the Second Republic.

"However, the Spain of 2022 is very different from that of the first years of democracy", justifies the 'orange' formation that also alludes to the need that "finally, the votes of all Spanish citizens are worth the same " and create a system that "better reflects your preferences".

As for the reform of the institutions, which Ciudadanos considers to have fulfilled "their function correctly" during the first years of democracy, the formation points out that they have to change in order to be able to offer "a better" service to the citizenry, that they make the parliamentary system is "more solid, transparent and capable" of responding to citizens' demands.