Turnout 39.44% 18 December 2014 21 August 2016 19 June 2015 27 March 2016 Date 11 December 2016 | 22 July 2015 18 December 2014 26 February 2011 19 June 2015 New New Location Romania | |
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Legislative elections were held in Romania on 11 December 2016. They were the first held under a new electoral system adopted in 2015, which saw a return to the proportional electoral system last used in the 2004 elections. The new electoral legislation provides a norm of representation for deputies of 73,000 inhabitants and 168,000 inhabitants for senators, which decreased the number of MPs. A total of 466 parliamentary seats (308 deputies, 18 minority deputies, and 134 senators) were contested, compared with the 588 parliamentarians elected in 2012. The diaspora was represented by four deputies and two senators, elected by postal vote. The elections saw a turnout of 39.5%, lower than in 2012 but slightly higher than in the 2008 elections.
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New electoral system
The legislative election of 2016 unfolded differently compared to 2012 and 2008. On 24 February 2015, the Electoral Code Commission decided in principle for the future electoral law to return to party-list proportional representation, thereby relinquishing the first-past-the-post (uninominal) voting system as introduced in 2008. The option of turning the Parliament of Romania into a perfectly bicameral parliament, with some 300 deputies being elected on a closed list and 100 senators being elected by a single-round uninominal majority vote, had been discussed for years and even agreed upon between the ruling Social Democratic Party and the opposition. The new electoral law promulgated by President Klaus Iohannis on 20 July 2015 however didn't retain uninominal constituencies for the Senate. Closely sticking to the commission's recommendations, the new electoral law completely returned to party-list proportional representation.
With a representation norm of one deputy per 73,000 inhabitants and one senator per 168,000 inhabitants, a total of 308 deputies were elected, to which are added the 18 deputies of minorities, 134 senators and 6 MPs of diaspora (two senators and four deputies). All in all this totals to a number of 466 MPs, five fewer than in 2008 and 122 fewer than in 2012. While for single-party lists the electoral threshold is kept at 5%, a higher threshold of 8–10% is introduced for electoral alliances. For the first time the Romanian electors residing abroad were able to cast their vote via mail, in a reaction to the flawed procedures at the 2014 presidential election.
Parties
Although the image of Victor Ponta and his Social Democratic Party (PSD) was badly affected by corruption scandals and a recent wave of protests, the party remains one of the two major parties in Romania. Besides the PSD, the Romanian party system however went through a number of substantial regroupings.
Major regroupings
Leading center-left Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Centre Right Alliance (ACD) of the Conservative Party (PC) and National Liberal Party (PNL) contested the 2012 legislative election under the joint ticket of the Social Liberal Union (USL). They won an absolute majority to form a government headed by prime minister Victor Ponta.
During the legislature, PC and PNL however increasingly distanced themselves from each other with the PC – despite its name – embracing social liberalism and being affected by corruption scandals involving its leader, Dan Voiculescu, who was subsequently sentenced to prison for money laundering. In turn, the PNL dropped out of the coalition government in February 2014. Formerly affiliated with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), the party applied for membership in the European People's Party (EPP) to be later admitted a full member. Increasingly orienting to the right, the PNL suffered a split, as a faction centered around Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu left to become the Liberal Reformist Party (PLR) which eventually merged with the PC to form the Romanian Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, eponymous with the European party.
Subsequently, the PNL joined forces with the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), which itself had suffered a split, when Traian Băsescu left to form the new party People's Movement. Ahead of a complete merger, PDL and PNL formed the Christian Liberal Alliance, which successfully fielded Klaus Iohannis in the November 2014 presidential election. The two parties fully merged on 17 November 2014 under the name of National Liberal Party (PNL).
In June 2015, left-wing National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR) which before had polled in the Centre Left Alliance with the Social Democrats, absorbed the remainders of dissolved populist PP-DD, after that party's founder Dan Diaconescu was convicted for extortion. UNPR president Gabriel Oprea advanced the variant of launching an independent list in the legislative election as one of two options. While aiming for 10% at the upcoming national vote, the party also reaffirmed its commitment to the Centre Left Alliance with the PSD. However, in July 2016, UNPR joined the right-leaning People's Movement Party led by former president Traian Băsescu, despite protests from some UNPR members. Oprea, himself under investigation for abuse of power, resigned from the party and declared his intention to leave politics.
Further developments
Conservative MEP Maria Grapini accused PC of betrayal after fusion with PLR. The People's Movement Party, formed around former President Traian Băsescu after splitting from PDL, was rocked by the arrest of its leader Elena Udrea in Microsoft licensing corruption scandal and is losing popularity.
A new nationalist party, United Romania Party (PRU), was founded by MP Bogdan Diaconu on 17 August 2014 and became official by court decision on 17 February 2015.
Another new and unpredictable element in this election is the rise of the Union for the Salvation of Romania [USR], a party recently created from its base in Bucharest as the Union for the Salvation of Bucharest. Led by Nicușor Dan, a mathematics professor, this is a reformist group of newcomers to politics committed to rooting out corruption. Recent polling data shows the USR poised to exceed its goal of 10 per cent of the popular vote.
The largest political formation of an ethnic minority, the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, has a chance to be represented in the parliament.