Directorate-General for the Directorate for Relations with National Parliaments

Factsheet: Romanian

1. At a glance

Romania is a constitutional republic with a democratic multiparty parliamentary system. The bicameral parliament (Parlamentul României) consists of the Senate (Senat) and the Chamber of Deputies (Camera Deputaţilor). The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are elected every four years by universal, equal, direct, secret, and freely expressed suffrage. The current chambers were elected on the basis of the uninominal vote. The 2016 parliamentary elections will be held after new rules, following the amendment of electoral law during 2015: deputies and senators will be elected in a party-list proportional representation system, last used in the 2004 elections. The uninominal voting system, deemed unsuitable for the Romanian political life, is thus given up.

The new electoral law provides a norm of representation of 73,000 inhabitants for deputies and 168,000 inhabitants for senators which will lead to a decrease in the number of MPs. 466 parliamentary seats (308 deputies, 18 minority deputies, and 134 senators) will be contested, versus 588 parliamentarians who had been elected in 2012. The diaspora will be further represented by four deputies and two senators.

The law keeps the 5% Parliament entry threshold for parties, and introduces a threshold of 8 to 10% for electoral alliances. As a response to the flawed organization of last autumn’s presidential ballot, when many Romanians living abroad were unable to vote because of the long queues in polling stations, the new legislation introduces a special facility for these citizens. Polling stations will be organized in towns and villages where at least 100 Romanian voters reside. Another novelty is the establishment of the Corps of Electoral Experts, a database of individuals who can be presidents of polling stations. The database is to be put together, managed and updated by the Permanent Electoral Authority. The election for the Senate and Chamber of Deputies in 2016 will be the first parliamentary election where an IT system will be used in order to monitor voter turnout and to prevent illegal voting, both in polling stations in Romania, and abroad.

The Senate is currently composed of 164 Senators1.

1 Out of the 176 elected in 2012, as several did not complete their full term as senators . 2. Composition

The Senate: Current Parliamentary Political Group Composition Party EP affiliation % Seats Partidul Social Democrat (PSD) 76 Social Democratic Party 45.23 %

Partidul Naţional Liberal (PNL) National Liberal Party 36.9% 62

Grupul Liberal Conservator (Liberal - Conservative Political Group - not a Not affiliated 19.1% 13 party in itself) Uniunea Democrată Maghiară din România (UDMR) 4.76% 8 Romániai Magyar Demokrata Szövetség Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania Group of Non-affiliated Senators 5.35% 9 Turnout: 41.76% Next legislative elections: 11 December 2016.

3. Officeholders

President of the Senate Chairperson of the EU Affairs Committee

Mr Călin POPESCU-TĂRICEANU Ms Anca-Daniela BOAGIU (Liberal-Conservative Parliamentary (PNL), Group), since 2012 since March 2014

Secretary General of the Romanian Parliament: Mr ION VĂRGĂU

4. Relations with Members of the European Parliament

Participation rights for Romanian No, only upon request/invitation MEPs in plenary sittings Participation rights for Romanian No, only upon request/invitation MEPs in committee meetings

Availability of videoconferencing system No in Romanian Senate

Last updated on February 2016. Photo credits: Romanian Senate. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/relnatparl [email protected] 5. Information links

– Official website: http://www.senat.ro/ – Rules of procedure for Romanian Senate – List of committees – Recent documents submitted by the Senate to the Interparliamentary EU Information Exchange (IPEX) – European Parliament Information Office in Bucharest

6. Contacts

Factsheet author and contact in the Brussels-based contact of the Romanian EP Directorate for Relations with National Senate: Parliaments:

Ms Diana CIUCHE Ms Izabella MOLDOVAN Office WIE 05U046, 1047 Brussels Office WIE 06U021, 1047 Brussels Phone +32 2 28 41197 Phone +32 2 28 42355 [email protected] [email protected]

Last updated on February 2016. Photo credits: Romanian Senate. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/relnatparl [email protected]