Girish Mahajan (Editor)

President of the Senate of Romania

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Term length
  
4 years

Succession
  
First

Formation
  
1864 1990

President of the Senate of Romania

Inaugural holder
  
Nifon Rusailă (1864) Alexandru Bârlădeanu (1990)

Website
  
www.senat.ro/presedinte

The President of the Senate of Romania is the senator elected to preside over the Senate meetings. He (or she) is also the president of the Standing Bureau of the Senate, and the first person in the presidential line of succession.

Contents

Election

The President of the Senate is elected by secret ballot with the majority of votes from the Senators. If none of the candidates obtains the necessary votes, the first two compete again, and the one with most of the votes wins.

Role

  • calls the Senate in session (ordinary or extraordinary)
  • presides the Senate meetings, assisted by two secretaries
  • represents the Senate in the relation with the President, the Chamber of Deputies, the Government, Constitutional Court
  • represents the Senate in the foreign relations
  • succeeds (ad interim) the President if the latter resigns, is suspended, incapacitated or dies in office. (He/she continues to be President of the Senate during the ad-interim presidency of the country. He/she acts as President until a new president is elected.)

    • 1864–1866

    Between 3 July 1864 and 1 June 1866 the Upper House of the Legislative was called Corpul Ponderator. Members where nominated by the Domnitor, based on the proposals of the counties.

    1866–1946

    The upper house was called Senat or Camera Senatului. Most of the Senators where elected, some where senators by right (senatori de drept), as established by the 1866 Constitution. Voters and members had to be at least 40 years of age, except the heir to the Throne, that was senator at 18 years, and allowed to vote in the Senate at 21.

    1946–1989

    In 1946 elections were called only for the Assembly of Deputies (Adunarea Deputaţilor), as the 1923 Constitution was re-empowered with some modifications. After the overthrow of the King and the establishment of the communist republic, the upper house was dissolved and disbanded.

    1990–present

    The upper house is called Senat and is headed by a President.

    List of officeholders

    Interim (acting) officeholders are denoted by italics. The Rule of the Senate states that at the first standing of the house, the meeting is headed by the eldest senator and helped by the youngest senator. Those bear the title of Interim President of the Senate, and, as their term is very short (one or two days) are not listed. The interim officeholders listed have hold the office in different circumstances and for a longer time. They were actually Vice Presidents standing as caretaker President during a vacancy. The caretaker Vice Presidents during the two suspensions of Traian Băsescu in April–May 2007 (Doru Ioan Tărăcilă) and in June–July 2012 (Petru Filip) are not listed, as the seat of President of the Senate was not vacant.

    The political stance of presidents of the upper house prior to the development of a modern party system is given by:

    The political stance of presidents of the upper house after the development of a modern party system is given by:

    References

    President of the Senate of Romania Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA