Elections in Romania

Romania elects on a national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people (after a change from four-year terms after the 2004 election). The Romanian Parliament (Parlamentul României) has two chambers. The Chamber of Deputies (Camera Deputaţilor) has currently 330 members (after the last legislative elections), elected for a four-year term by party-list proportional representation on closed lists. The Senate (Senatul) has currently 136 members (after the last legislative elections), elected for a four-year term by party-list proportional representation on closed lists. Romania has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. On 25 November 2007, for the first time, Romanians elected their representatives to the European Parliament. The President is elected in a two-round system for a five-year term. Candidates obtaining a majority of 50%+1 of all registered voters in the first round are declared the winner. If none of the candidates achieve this, then a run-off is held between the two contenders with the top scores in the first round. The candidate who obtains any majority of votes in the run-off is declared the winner. The term of the president is five years. Between 1992 and 2004 the term was of four years, but was increased following the 2003 Constitutional referendum. One person can serve a maximum of two terms, that may be consecutive. In order to be able to run for the Office of President a candidate must fulfill the following conditions: be a Romanian citizen, be at least 35 years of age (at least on the day of the election), and not have held the office for two terms since 1992, when the 1991 Constitution took effect. The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are elected in constituencies, by universal, equal, direct, secret, and freely expressed suffrage, on the basis of a list system and independent candidatures, according to the principle of closed party list proportional representation.