The Commission observes that, according to the Act concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage, the elections to the European Parliament had to take place in June 2024; only the date of the local elections could be changed in case of a merger. While the date of the elections was brought forward, the mandate of the incumbent officials was not modified (they remained in office until the end of the term for which they had originally been elected) and the new mandates started to run on the date of the expiry of the original ones. The merger of the elections therefore did not have any impact on the duration of the mandates of the members of local authorities elected in the last election and of the newly elected members (which could have raised issues under democratic standards). Nevertheless, it is true that the “cohabitation” of the incumbent with the newly elected officials lasted more than four months (between the election and taking office), which is a long period of time, amounting to the double of the maximum timeframe provided for by the Administrative Code. This cohabitation may indeed have created confusion and possibly tensions, as reported by stakeholders met during online meetings.