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| POLITICAL AGREEMENT FOR THE UNINOMINAL VOTE 20/02/2008 |
| (2008-02-20) |
| Last updated: 2008-02-21 14:28 EET |
There are few topics which are more displeasing to the Romanian political class than the introduction of the uninominal vote in the legislative elections. Starting 1990, all of post-communist Romania’s parliaments were formed following elections on lists. In time, this has led to a group of politicians winning mandates in every election, without their virtual electorate even knowing them. What mattered to them were not their political performances and good deeds done for electors in their circumscriptions, but their ability to convince their party leaders to place them on the top of the list, in order to get hold of an eligible seat. As the Romanian electorate became more experienced and strict, its trust in the legislative body dropped rapidly, now reaching an emergency level of 10-15%.
Being frequently brought up by civil society and the media and constantly put up for public debate by President Traian Basescu, the adoption of a uninominal voting system seems to have come to a close. After President Basescu initiated a referendum on this issue, which failed due to the low number of participants, and after the Constitutional Court rejected a draft law initiated by the Government, the main political forces in Romania still state that we will have a uninominal vote for this fall parliamentary elections.
In a meeting mediated by one of the most influential NGOs in Bucharest, Pro Democratia, the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, part of the governing coalition, and the Social Democratic Party and the Conservative Party in opposition, on Tuesday agreed on the principles of the law. The parties agreed that future voting should be done only in uninominal colleges and that there should be a connection between the number of votes obtained by a party and the mandates that party receives in Parliament, thus avoiding the risk of significant groups of the electorate not being represented.
Social democrat Anghel Stanciu:
“Such a vote would allow voters to choose a single candidate in the uninominal college, to hold that candidate accountable for their accomplishments and failures and it would also ensure a strong connection between electors and the people they elect.”
Technically speaking, liberal Mihai Voicu said he was convinced parliamentary procedures would go rather quickly:
“The electoral code commission will come together and go through most of the articles in the draft law, so that we can debate the law in the whole of Parliament in 10, 11 days at the most.”
Known for his cautious analysis, sociologist Mircea Kivu now agrees that “the issue of the uninominal vote seems to have been resolved.” But recalling how imaginative and unpredictable Romanian politicians can be, he emphasizes the word “seems”.
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