Parliamentary election in Romania 2008

Distribution of votes for the Chamber of Deputies

Distribution of seats for the Chamber of Deputies

Distribution of votes for the Senate

Allocation of seats for the Senate

Parties with the highest voting power by district (Chamber of Deputies)

Parties with the highest voting power by district (Senate)

The 2008 parliamentary elections in Romania took place on November 30th. The Partidul Social Democrat (PSD) won by a narrow margin over the bourgeois Partidul Democrat Liberal (PD-L). The latter, on the other hand, won a majority of the mandates. Both parties formed a joint government; PD-L chairman Emil Boc became prime minister on December 22, 2008 .

Suffrage

Mandates won (Chamber of Deputies)

Mandates won (Senate)

Both chambers of parliament, the Chamber of Deputies ( Camera Deputalilor ) and the Senate were elected at the end of the four-year legislative period . The Chamber of Deputies has 333 seats, the Senate 137. Both chambers were determined according to a combined majority and proportional representation . After the parties had previously only sent their MPs to parliament via election lists, this time people nominated by the parties were available for election. These received a seat if they achieved an absolute majority of the votes cast in their constituency. The remaining seats were allocated to other candidates using a complicated procedure, so that ultimately the parties are represented in the chambers of parliament in proportion to the votes cast for their candidates.

The Partidul România Mare ( Greater Romania Party ) tried in a legal process to force a return to the previously used list election . On September 25, the Bucharest Court of Appeal, and on November 11, the Supreme Court rejected the party's action. However, it wasn't until November 18, 2008 that the constitutional court finally confirmed the electoral law.

Romanian citizens aged 18 and over were eligible to vote. The lower age limit with regard to the right to stand for election was 23 for the Chamber of Deputies and 35 for the Senate.

For the first time, people with Romanian citizenship residing abroad were also allowed to vote in parliamentary elections. “Diaspora constituencies” were set up for them (four for the Chamber of Deputies, two for the Senate).

A five percent clause applied. Parties could join together to form judicially registered electoral alliances; then the hurdle to move into parliament rose to 8-10 percent, depending on the number of allied parties. Alternatively, it was possible to have politicians from other parties run on their own lists, which circumvented the increase in the percentage hurdle.

The five percent clause would not apply to a party if its candidates had won parliamentary seats in at least six (Chamber of Deputies) or three (Senate) constituencies by achieving an absolute majority.

In contrast to the other parties, parties from the 18 recognized national minorities could each nominate a single candidate who ran in all constituencies. Even if he did not master the five percent hurdle, he was able to move into the Chamber of Deputies, even if he did not achieve the otherwise required number of votes for this one seat.

Starting position

Previous parliament

The parliament elected in 2004 included representatives from six major parties and a number of independent MPs and members of national minorities:

Political party	abbreviation	direction	Mandates Chamber of Deputies	Senate mandates
Partidul Social Democrat	Psd	social democratic	102	44
Partidul Democrat Liberal	PD-L	liberal / conservative	65	25th
Partidul Național Liberal	PNL	liberal	53	25th
Partidul România Mare	PRM	nationalist	25th	15th
Uniunea Democrată Maghiară din România	UDMR	Minority party; Christian Democratic	19th	9
Partidul Conservator	Pc	socially conservative	18th	10
Others			33	4th

These figures represent the status of August 2008 and no longer agree with the election result of 2004 (see below), as a number of parliamentary groups had been changed, excluded and left in the meantime.

After the 2004 elections, the PNL, the PD - the predecessor party of today's PD-L -, the UDMR and the PC formed a government coalition under Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu (PNL). The PSD and the PRM went into opposition.

In 2006 the PC resigned from the government , and in 2007 after a falling out between Popescu-Tăriceanu and President Traian Băsescu , the PD too. In addition, some of the PNL MPs left the party at the end of 2006 and founded the PLD (Partidul Liberal Democrat), which one year later merged with the PD to form the PD-L. The governing coalition consisted only of the MPs from PNL and UDMR, who together only held around 20% of the seats, and their ability to act was severely limited. However, several motions of censure in 2007 failed due to differences of opinion between the other parties.

Initial situation of the individual parties

Psd

Logo of the PSD

Mircea Geoana

The Partidul Social Democrat (PSD, Social Democratic Party ), the strongest opposition force to date, came to power again. In the election year, however, the PSD repeatedly attracted attention due to internal party disputes, the main exponents of which were honorary chairman and former president Ion Iliescu on the one hand, and a reform-oriented Grupul de Cluj ("Klausenburger Group") around Vasile Dâncu on the other . In addition, several prominent members were suspected of corruption, among them the former Prime Minister Adrian Năstase and the former Transport Minister Miron Mitrea . The latter was the party's campaign manager.

The PSD entered into an electoral alliance with the PC and was able to use the media power of the influential, former PC chairman Dan Voiculescu .

On September 27th and 28th, 2008, both parties held a joint congress, at which an election manifesto called “10 Angajamente pentru România” ( 10 commitments for Romania ) was adopted.

The lead candidate of the PSD-PC alliance, which was aiming for 40 percent of the vote, was party chairman Mircea Geoană . The PNL was considered a possible alliance partner after the election. Geoană, however, did not rule out an alliance with the PD-L, which brought him into opposition to Ion Iliescu, who rejected a coalition with this party and who was still regarded by many observers as the most powerful person of the PSD.

PD-L

Logo of the PD − L

According to some opinion polls, the Partidul Democrat Liberal (PD-L, Democratic Liberal Party ) had the greatest chance of emerging as the strongest force in the election. Party leader Emil Boc aimed for a result that should be as close as possible to 50%. The main reason for the party's optimism was the popularity of President Traian Băsescu , who is close to the PD-L. At the beginning of September 2008, the party, whose election campaign had run quite smoothly until then, got into trouble when it agreed in the Senate to work with the extremist Partidul România Mare ( Greater Romania Party ) with the aim of securing each other's posts in the Senate presidency. President Băsescu distanced himself from this approach.

Many observers predicted that the PD-L would have difficulties in finding a sufficiently strong coalition partner after the elections, since the personal relationships, especially of Băsescu to the leaders of the PSD and PNL, were considered shattered beyond the normal level of political opposition. In August 2008, however, politicians from PD-L and PNL signaled that they could envisage a renewed merger of the two parties - as they did after the 2004 elections. The candidate for the office of Prime Minister was Theodor Stolojan .

PNL

Logo of the PNL

Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu

The Partidul Național Liberal (PNL, National Liberal Party ) hoped to re-form the government with the help of one or more allies. Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu stood for election as the top candidate.

As the leading ruling party, the PNL tried in the months leading up to the election to convince voters by raising pensions and minimum wages. This led to wage demands from various groups of state employees, which the PNL-led government had to face in order not to endanger the financial stability of the state.

Among other things, these aspects led in October 2008 to a rapprochement with the PD-L, which is programmatically very close to the PNL.

PRM

PRM logo

The Partidul România Mare (PRM, Greater Romania Party ) had been showing a decline in approval in opinion polls for a long time. This was accompanied by disputes in the party leadership and party withdrawals. At the end of August 2008, only 39 of the 73 PRM parliamentarians elected in 2004 were members of the party. Since the 5 percent threshold was threatened by the falling voter interest, the PRM decided to start talks with all other major parties. An electoral alliance did not materialize, however. Since the party feared that the new electoral system would cause it to lose votes, it took legal action against it - albeit unsuccessfully.

UDMR

Logo of the UDMR

The Uniunea Democrată Maghiară din România (UDMR, Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania ) has always been able to rely on the largely uniformly voting Hungarian minority in previous elections. In March 2008, however, the Partidul Civic Maghiar (PCM, Hungarian Citizens' Party ) was constituted, which won around 16% of the votes of the Hungarian minority in the local elections in June 2008. For the UDMR, this meant the risk of possibly missing the five percent threshold. It was therefore in negotiations with the PCM. Ultimately, however, she decided against an alliance with the PCM, which then decided not to run with its own candidates, but supported independent Hungarian candidates. In order not to forfeit any potential votes, the UDMR put up candidates in all constituencies, including regions in which practically no Hungarians live. For this she also resorted to ethnic Romanians.

In terms of content, the UDMR advocated extending the rights of the Hungarian minority. She demanded that in the areas of Transylvania , where the majority of the population is Magyar , Romanian students must also learn the Hungarian language. She was ready to work with all other parties after the elections, with the exception of the PRM.

PNG CD

Logo of the PNG CD

The Partidul Noua Generație - Creștin Democrat (PNG-CD, Party of the New Generation - Christian Democrats ) is a right-wing formation led by the multimillionaire George Becali . During the last legislative period, it had very high poll numbers at times, which, however, fell significantly again in 2008. Nevertheless, they were given the chance to reach the five percent hurdle without an electoral alliance.

Pc

Logo of the pc

The Partidul Conservator (PC, Conservative Party ) has made some abrupt changes of course in recent years. She ran for the 2004 parliamentary elections together with the PSD, then formed a coalition government with the PNL and the PD , from which she left in 2006. She would probably have missed the five percent hurdle alone and therefore sought an electoral alliance. A merger with the PRM failed because the offer of the PC was connected with the suggestion that the PRM should be dissolved and merged with the PC. At the end of August 2008, the PC concluded an electoral alliance with the PSD, which enabled the PC to have 25 candidates run on the PSD's lists. In return, Dan Voiulescu - the defining personality of the PC - agreed to support PSD through his media group.

PNȚCD

Logo of the PNȚCD

The Partidul Național Țărănesc - Creștin Democrat (PNȚCD, National Peasant Party Christian Democrats ) has a strong regional base in the west of the country, but opinion polls indicate that it would not have overcome the five percent threshold on its own. She therefore signed an agreement with the PNL to allow some party members to run on their lists. However, there were also forces within the party who advocated joining forces with the PD-L or putting up their own candidates. Because of this question, among other things, the former ruling party, which had already largely sunk into insignificance, threatened to split.

pin code

The Partidul Inițiativa Națională (PIN, National Initiative Party ) is a small split from the PD. According to opinion polls, she should have joined a larger party in order to be able to send members to parliament. She negotiated an alliance with the PSD, but broke off these talks when the PSD honorary chairman Ion Iliescu spoke out against cooperation between the two parties. Since the PIN saw no chance of overcoming the five percent hurdle, individual party members ran as independent candidates.

PCM

Logo of the PCM

The Partidul Civic Maghiar (PCM, Hungarian Citizens' Party ) is a formation that split off from the UDMR and was only registered as a party in March 2008. Negotiations with the UDMR about an electoral alliance failed, so that the PCM initially planned to run with its own candidates. The PCM accused the UDMR of doing too little for the interests of the ethnic Hungarians in Romania. She did not have a realistic chance of entering parliament. On October 5, 2008, the party executive decided not to run for election in spite of the rift with the UDMR. However, she supported independent Hungarian candidates.

Candidates

Around 3,000 candidates applied for the total of 469 seats in parliament.

The larger parties - PD-L, PNL, UDMR, PRM, PNG-CD and the electoral alliance consisting of PSD and PC - put up candidates across the board in all constituencies. There were also the parties of 18 recognized national minorities (Albanians, Armenians, Bulgarians, Germans, Greeks, Italians, Jews, Croats, Lippowans / Russians, Macedonians, Poles, Roma, Ruthenians, Serbs, Slovaks / Czechs, Tatars, Turks, Ukrainians) selectable nationwide. One of these parties was the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (DFDR), for which Ovidiu Ganț was a candidate.

Two smaller parties, the electoral alliance made up of Partidul Ecologist Român ( Romanian Ecologist Party ) and Partidul Verde ( Green Party ) and the Partidul Popular și al Protecției Sociale ( Party of the People and Social Welfare ) competed in only part of the constituencies. Others - such as the Partidul Inițiativa Națională ( National Initiative Party ) - limited themselves to the candidacy of popular party members as independent candidates in individual constituencies.

The award of mandates through a choice of people caused some parties to seek prominent artists or athletes as candidates. So z. B. the film director Sergiu Nicolaescu and the cosmonaut Dumitru Dorin Prunariu for the PSD. Laurențiu Reghecampf , a Bundesliga professional under contract with 1. FC Kaiserslautern , was a candidate for the PNG CD, while the internationally known pan flute virtuoso Gheorghe Zamfir for the electoral alliance of the Green Party and Ecology Party.

According to Romanian non-governmental organizations that founded a “coalition for a clean parliament” ( Coaliția pentru un Parlament Curat ) in 2004 , 244 candidates did not meet the criteria set by this association because they were in a conflict of interests and changed parties for personal gain or with whom Securitate had worked.

Election campaign

Legal basis

The official election campaign began 30 days before the election, on October 31, 2008. Naturally, however, the parties tried beforehand to address the voters in their favor by making statements or legislative initiatives.

During the official election campaign, the parties were allowed to place election advertisements on both public and private television channels. In contrast to previous elections, the parties had to pay for the spots on private broadcasters. This was intended to reduce the influence of media companies on the election.

The election campaign was officially over 24 hours before the polling stations opened. H. on November 29, 7:00 a.m.

Political orientation of the campaigning parties

While the programmatic differences between most of the more important parties were rather small, the PD-L, PNL and PNȚCD were assigned to the bourgeois-conservative camp. The PSD represented a social democratic program. The UDMR and the PCM as nationality parties were a special case. The PC, the PRM and the PNG-CD represented populist, national-religious, and in some cases - especially the PRM and the PNG-CD - also extremist positions to varying degrees, but were nevertheless potential coalition partners for the other parties.

Issues of the election campaign

At first, factual issues played a rather subordinate role in the election campaign. A camp or direction election campaign could not be recognized. Political observers considered almost all theoretically possible party alliances to be practicable.

The larger parties promised their voters essentially rising wages and pensions. A rapid expansion of the motorway network was also promised. If implemented, these promises would entail very high financial costs and were therefore viewed very critically by Romanian journalists. On August 27, 2008, the government announced that it would significantly increase pensions from November 1, 2008. Observers saw the timing of this measure directly in connection with the elections. In order to counteract this impression and under pressure from the opposition, this pension increase was finally brought forward to October 1st.

A difficult situation arose on September 30th when the Chamber of Deputies unanimously passed a law that would increase teachers' salaries by 50 percent. Apart from the fact that this measure alone would put a heavy strain on the state budget, other social groups (state officials, students) immediately submitted comparable claims. The government - which rejected the law on economic grounds - appealed to the Constitutional Court because the counter-financing of the wage increase had not been clarified in any way. However, the court declared the wage increase constitutional on October 15. After some hesitation, President Traian Băsescu signed the law on October 24th. The government then stopped this by issuing an emergency decree, which in turn led to strike threats from the teachers' associations. Education Minister Cristian Adomniței was dismissed by Prime Minister Popescu-Tăriceanu in this matter. The emergency decree was declared unconstitutional by the constitutional court on November 12, 2008. Although the wage increases have not yet been implemented, the teachers temporarily canceled their planned strike in mid-November so as not to intervene in the election campaign.

As a result of the massive wage demands of various groups, which clearly threatened economic and social stability, from the beginning of October there were discussions between the parties and also within them about the dangers of an overly generous wage policy.

When it became clear in November 2008 that Romania would also be affected by the international financial crisis , the three big parties in particular promised effective concepts to limit the negative effects.

Otherwise, candidatures and possible electoral alliances and coalitions were discussed.

Incidents

In the course of the election campaign there were occasional violent or violent verbal arguments between supporters of different parties. An arson attack was carried out on an election campaign office of the PNL in the city of Botoșani . The car of the PSD top candidate Mircea Geoană was possibly shot with an air rifle on November 10 in the vicinity of Bucharest.

Opinion polls

The opinion polls with regard to voting intentions were carried out at irregular intervals by various nominally independent polling institutes . The " Sunday question ", which is also known in Germany and Austria, was usually asked. However, observers in Romania were of the opinion that some of the polls were used specifically to influence political sentiment. For example, the survey carried out on September 25, 2008 - which determined good survey values for the party alliance between PSD and PC - was commissioned by the television broadcaster Antena 3. This belongs to the media company of Dan Voiculescu , the former PC chairman.

Only three of the parties previously represented in parliament could safely assume, based on opinion polls, to master the five percent hurdle, namely the PSD, the PD-L and the PNL. After the majority of the surveys initially saw the PD-L in favor of the voters, most of the polls predicted a victory for the PSD in the days before the election.

date	Institute	Psd	Pc	PD-L	PNL	PRM	UDMR	PNG CD	PNȚCD	pin code	PCM
06/19/2008	IMAS	26th	2	40	18th	3	5	5	-	1	-
07/30/2008	INSOMAR	26th	2	38	16	3	4th	3	2	2	-
09/05/2008	ATLE	33	3	30th	16	3	5	3	1	2	-
09/16/2008	Metro Media	28	3	37	17th	5	5	3	1	3	-
09/17/2008	INSOMAR	25th	1	39	20th	4th	4th	3	1	-	1
09/25/2008	CCSB	36		34	20th	3	5	2	1	-	-
10/11/2008	BCS	28		30th	21st	4th	6th	4th	1	-	-
October 23, 2008	CURS	31		32	18th	5	5	5	1	1	-
10/27/2008	CCSB	37		35	18th	3	6th	2	-	-	-
03/11/2008	INSOMAR	32		37	17th	5	5	3	-	-	-
11/11/2008	CCSB	38		34	14th	4th	7th	2	-	-	-
11/14/2008	BCS	32		35	20th	4th	5	-	-	-	-
11/21/2008	BCS	31		32	21st	4th	6th	3	-	-	-
11/23/2008	INSOMAR	35		32	21st	3	5	3	-	-	-
11/23/2008	CSOP	31		34	21st	3	7th	3	-	-	-

numbers in percent

Election process

The polling stations were open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on November 30th. There was no postal vote. Since December 1st is a national holiday in Romania, election Sunday was in the middle of a long weekend. For this reason, it was assumed from the outset that a relatively large number of Romanians would not be at their place of residence and therefore would not be able to vote. In addition, many students were not registered at their place of study but in their parents' apartment. In order to make it easier for them to vote, the government ordered at short notice that they could use trains free of charge between their place of study and their official place of residence on the weekend of the election.

Election results

Turnout by district

The first opinion polls on election evening saw the PSD + PC alliance clearly (with around five percentage points) ahead of the PD-L. The counting of the ballot papers then showed a head-to-head race between the two parties; It was not until the evening of December 1st that it became clear that PSD and PC would win by a narrow margin of votes.

In essence, the result matched the predictions of most polling institutes. Compared to the 2004 elections, the massive loss of votes of the PRM, which could no longer make it to parliament, was the most noticeable change. The new parliament now consists of only four parties (as well as some PC MPs who have won their seats in an alliance with the PSD), with the representatives of the 18 minority parties in the Chamber of Deputies.

Due to the complicated mode, there was a slight shift in the distribution of mandates compared to the distribution of votes, which had the effect that the PD-L received more mandates than the PSD + PC alliance despite the lower proportion of votes. The mandate distribution procedure meant that PSD and PD-L candidates in particular, who only narrowly missed the absolute majority of votes, missed their way into parliament, whereas a UDMR candidate, for example, entered a constituency abroad with 34 (of 1724 cast) votes Could win a mandate in the Chamber of Deputies. In the Arad district , the UDMR won an additional mandate resulting from the calculation process, so that a total of 334 parliamentarians will be represented in the Chamber of Deputies.

Independent candidates nowhere in their constituencies received even remotely an absolute majority of the votes and thus could not enter parliament.

In the Chamber of Deputies, 86 of the 316 seats (i.e. not counting minority parties) were achieved by achieving an absolute majority of the votes cast in one constituency (PSD 41, PD-L 27, PNL 4, UDMR 14), in the Senate 30 out of 137 ( PSD 11, PD-L 11, PNL 1, UDMR 7).

The turnout of 39.2% was lower than ever before in the Romanian parliamentary elections since 1989. There was even less interest in the cities and the more affluent regions.

Eligible voters	18,464,274
Participants	7,238,871 (= 39.20%)
Valid votes Chamber of Deputies	6,886,794 (= 95.13%)
Valid Senate votes	6,888,055 (= 95.15%)

Chamber of Deputies

Political party	Share of votes in 2008 in percent	Mandates 2008	Share of votes in 2004 in percent	Mandates 2004
Psd	33.1 ^a	110	36.8 ^a	121
PC ^b	33.1 ^a	4th	36.8 ^a	11
PD-L ^c	32.4	115	31.5 ^d	48
PNL	18.6	65	31.5 ^d	64
PRM	3.2	-	13.0	48
UDMR	6.2	22nd	6.2	22nd
PNG CD	2.3	-	2.2	-
Minorities	3.4	18th	2.7	18th
Others	0.8	-	7.6	-
total	100.0	334	100.0	332

Notes:
a: In 2004 and 2008 PSD and PC (PUR) competed together in an electoral alliance.
b: Started in 2004 under the name Partidul Umanist Român (PUR).
c: Started in 2004 under the name Partidul Democrat (PD).
d: In 2004 PD and PNL joined the electoral alliance Alianța Dreptate și Adevăr (“Alliance for Justice and Truth”).

senate

Political party	Share of votes in 2008 in percent	Mandates 2008	Share of votes in 2004 in percent	Mandates 2004
Psd	34.2 ^a	48	37.2 ^a	47
PC ^b	34.2 ^a	1	37.2 ^a	10
PD-L ^c	33.6	51	31.8 ^d	21st
PNL	18.7	28	31.8 ^d	28
PRM	3.6	-	13.6	21st
UDMR	6.4	9	6.2	10
PNG CD	2.5	-	2.4	-
Others	1.0	-	8.8	-
total	100.0	137	100.0	137

Notes: See under Chamber of Deputies

Government formation

Emil Boc

Since neither party alone had an absolute majority of the mandates, either a minority government or a coalition had to be formed. None of the parties represented in parliament had ruled out coalitions with another parliamentary party in principle.

According to the Romanian constitution , the president appoints a candidate for the office of prime minister, who has to put himself and the government he has formed in a vote of confidence in parliament. Tensions arose in the run-up to the elections after President Băsescu announced that he would not appoint the top candidates of the PSD and PNL, Geoană and Popescu-Tăriceanu, because he did not trust them.

After the PNL failed to form a government because of Popescu-Tăriceanu's demand to become prime minister again, negotiations between the PSD and the PD-L quickly took place. A main point of dispute between the two parties was the question of the participation of the UDMR in government, which the PD-L advocated but the PSD rejected. In the end, the PSD prevailed on this question; the UDMR went back into the opposition after 14 years in government. On December 10, 2008, Theodor Stolojan (PD-L) was nominated by President Băsescu for the office of Prime Minister. Four days later, representatives from PSD and PD-L signed the coalition agreement called “Partnership for Romania”. A day later, Stolojan surprisingly withdrew from his nomination. President Băsescu then proposed the PD-L chairman Emil Boc as the new prime minister. He and his coalition government formed by him (see Cabinet Boc I ) were elected on December 22, 2008 in a joint session of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate with 324 of 471 possible votes.

Further developments in the legislative period

The coalition of PD-L and PSD broke up on October 1, 2009 - after a little more than nine months - in the run-up to the presidential elections . After that, the PD-L ruled briefly in a minority government. Boc and the PD-L tried to get a parliamentary majority with the help of the UDMR - the party of Hungarians living in Romania -, with other MPs from small ethnic minorities and with defectors from PNL and PSD. However, the PNL and the UDMR initiated a vote of no confidence, which was supported by the PSD and approved on October 13, 2009 with 254 of 471 votes; 236 votes would have been required. The Boc government is only executive in office. The PSD and PNL are now planning to set up a technocratic cabinet until the presidential elections are held , to be headed by the Transylvanian German mayor of Sibiu, Klaus Johannis . President Băsescu rejected the proposal and nominated the financial expert Lucian Croitoru as prime minister on October 15th , who was only supported by the PD-L and rejected by parliament on November 4th. On November 6th, Băsescu proposed the Bucharest district mayor Liviu Negoiță (PD-L) as prime minister. This also failed with the attempt to organize a parliamentary majority and gave back the government mandate on December 15, 2009.

After the runoff elections for the presidency, which Băsescu narrowly won on December 6, he nominated Emil Boc again for the office of prime minister on December 17. Boc then formed a minority government ( Cabinet Boc II ) consisting of PD-L and UDMR, which was elected on December 23 with 276 of 471 votes. In addition to PD-L, UDMR, the faction of minorities and some independents, at least 40 MPs from the opposition parties PSD and PNL must have voted for the new government.