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The new majority coalition in Romania’s Parliament has already obtained a major victory in Parliament, after the validation of the cabinet led by Social Democrat leader Victor Ponta. The Social Liberal Union imposed a legislative initiative in the Senate regarding the uninominal voting system in one round. If the draft law is also passed in the Chamber of Deputies, the winners of November’s legislative elections will be the candidates who get the most votes in a constituency.
At present, the voting system is mixed, combining the uninominal and proportional systems. Introduced in the 2008 elections, the system has showed some of its flaws, after allowing the election to Parliament of candidates ranked 2nd and 3rd in their constituencies. This was due to the score their party had obtained at national level. But the legitimacy of such people in Parliament is debatable. Here is Crin Antonescu, the leader of the National Liberal Party:
“In this formula, in which we give the power and responsibility to the voter, we have a common denominator for all elected MPs, therefore their election is legitimate and the Romanian political spectrum will be well balanced.”
That is not the opinion of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, now in opposition, on whom the majority uninominal voting system will take its toll. Senator Marko Bela explained why the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians upholds a return to the proportional voting system.
“In a country like Romania, with many local communities, I think there should be a proportional voting system, that should provide representation for various areas and interests, even if they belong to a minority”.
The Liberal Democratic Party, now in opposition, abstained, because it believes that the uninominal voting system eliminates the proportional representation of political parties, which is the basis of a democratic election system. And this despite an evident upside – the exclusion of candidates who do not win in constituencies. Therefore, according to Liberal Democrat Senator Cristian Radulescu, the system allows a party that wins 45% of the votes to hold 80% of the seats in Parliament.
The stand now adopted by the Liberal Democrats regarding the uninominal voting system is rather curious since the system had previously been backed by the Liberal Democrats’ mentor, President Traian Basescu. On the other hand, analysts say, the Social Liberal Union, a favorite in the polls, is interested in passing the new voting system in order to increment their score in the upcoming elections.
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2025-04-03
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