Today (December 1st) citizens of Romania go to polls to vote in parliamentary elections!
Romanian parliament is bicameral and made of two houses, lower Chamber of Deputies, and upper Senate. Both are to be decided today. In 2009, it was decided (via referendum) to adopt unicameral parliament with one 300-seats house, but necessary changes to the constitution still (after 15 years!) weren't implemented.
Chamber of Deputies (Camera Deputaților) consists of around 330 deputies, majority (number depends on population data, currently it's 312) elected for a four-year term, by party list proportional representation, in 43 multi-member constituencies (one including Romanians abroad), and allocated using d'Hondt method. Additionally, ethnic minorities are entitled to one deputy each, so actual number of seats is fluid and slightly higher (in 2020, 18 minorities managed to achieve a seat: Albanians, Armenians, Bulgarians, Croats, Germans, Greeks, Italians, Jews, Lipovan Ruthenians, Macedonians, Poles, Roma, Ruthenians, Serbs, Slovaks/Czechs, Tatars, Turks and Ukrainians; in 2016, it was 17). Read more here. Electoral threshold is 5% (national) or 20% (regional, in at least 4 constituencies).
Senate (Senat) consists of 136 senators (69 needed for majority), elected by the same rules as Chamber of Deputies, except there's no minority seats.
Turnout in last (2020) elections was record low 32%.
Relevant parties and alliances taking part in the elections are:
| Name | Leader | Position | Affiliation | 2020 result | Recent polling | Exit poll | Seats CD/S (change) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social Democratic Party (PSD) | Victor Negrescu | left (social conservative) | PAS | 29.1% | 21-32% | TBA | (110/47) |
| National Liberal Party (PNL) | Ilie Bolojan | centre-right (liberal conservative) | EPP | 25.4% | 13-20% | TBA | (93/41) |
| Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) | George Simion | right-wing (Christian fundamentalist, nationalist) | ECR | 9.2% | 15-22% | TBA | (33/14) |
| Save Romania Union (USR) | Elena Lasconi | centre-right (liberal) | Renew | 15.6% | 12-18% | TBA | (55/25) |
| Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSz) | Hunor Kelemen | centre-right (Hungarian minority) | EPP | 5.8% | 5-6% | TBA | (21/9) |
| SOS Romania | Diana Șoșoacă | far-right (nationalist conservative, pro-Russian, covidiot) | new | 5-6% | TBA | (-) | |
| Force of the Right (FD) | Ludovic Orban | right (liberal conservative) | new | 1-3% | TBA | (-) | |
| Renewing Romania's European Project (REPER) | Dragoș Pîslaru, Ramona Strugariu | centre (progressive liberal) | Renew | new | 1-3% | TBA | (-) |
Recent developments: after surprise result of 1st round of presidential elections [week ago](), which decided that 2nd round (next Sunday) will be resolved between conspiracy theorist Călin Georgescu (independent, endorsed by SOS, and AUR) with 23% and Elena Lasconi (leader of liberal USR) with 19%, leaders of two major parties: Marcel Ciolacu of PSD (third with 19%) and Nicolae Ciucă of PNL (fifth with 9%) both stepped down, so both parties have acting leaders at the moment.
Further reading
High turnout of 23.6% at 1pm in Romania's parliamentary elections (Euronews)
Romania’s parliamentary vote risks being overshadowed by presidential race chaos (AP)
Parliamentary election will test how far Romania is veering to the hard right (Politico)
We shall leave detailed commentary (and any interesting trivia!) on elections and campaign, to our Romanian users, or anyone else with knowledge worth sharing. Feel free to correct or add anything!
by pothkan
3 comments
Voted about 1 hour ago în Alba Iulia. I’ve seen way more young people than in the first round.
That brings some hope. (voted Reper but I’m abit nervous they won’t make it )
Calin Georgescu also has a party behind him, POT, and I think it should be included in the list because it’s quite likely to pass the 5% threshold.
Good luck to you, bros!
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