Romanian legislative election, 2004
Encyclopedia
The Romanian legislative election of 2004 was held on 28 November 2004. 137 seats in the Senate of Romania
and 314 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
were up for election.
The 2004 legislative election was held simultaneously with the presidential election
. According to the 2003 amendment to the Romanian Constitution, the presidential term is now five years instead of four, meaning that in the future, legislative and presidential elections will be held separately, only coinciding every 20 years (2024, 2044, etc.).
alliance made up of the incumbent Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSD) and the Romanian Humanist Party (PUR), and, on the other hand, the center-right
"Justice and Truth
" alliance (Dreptate şi adevăr) comprising the liberal National Liberal Party (Romania)
and the reformist Democratic Party (Romania).
Other significant contenders were the Greater Romania Party
(PRM) (right-wing nationalists), the ethnic Hungarian party Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania
(UDMR), and the Union for Romanian Reconstruction
, a group of right-wing technocrats.
Apart from the deputy seats up for grabs in the election, each ethnic minority group that has not gained representation in Parliament will be given one deputy seat – 18 seats in total.
The opposition claimed that there were organized "electoral excursions" of PSD supporters who were bussed to various towns to vote several times. This was corroborated by several teams of journalists, who followed the buses.
The Romanian opposition announced on 30 November that they were demanding a re-run of the election, because some of the void votes were allegedly awarded to the PSD. They showed evidence that some people voted more than once (they found about 750 persons in three counties, but their search of the supplementary lists would continue) and also showed that many of the minutes of the electoral committees were wrongly completed (the sum of the number of valid votes and null votes did not match the number of voters, sometimes by a difference of hundreds or thousands of votes) and the central software not only allowed these contradictory figures, but it also added these differences by default to the PSD. The opposition announced that it had started a parallel count, which showed a PSD-DA difference of only 2% between.
The government attacked the opposition by arguing that 'rumours of fraud' affect Romania's economy and its external credibility.
In January 2005, the IMAS institute of statistics released an analysis of the voting results in the 16,824 precincts. In the top 1,000 precincts with the most votes on the supplementary lists, the PSD had 43% to the DA's 23%, while in the precincts with least votes on supplementary lists, the PSD had 30% to the DA's 34%. The same trend was true in the precincts with most void votes.http://www.imas-inc.com/download/analize.pdf It has been argued that this could not have been due to pure chance, and therefore that the alleged election fraud was real.
hinted that they have more in common with the DA (both have a center-right orientation) and that they might break from the PSD, but one day later said he will remain with PSD. It has been suggested by the press that this could be result of a blackmail about his communist past. By 25 December both UDMR and PUR signed a protocol of alliance with DA (Justice and Truth), with the designated prime minister being Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu
. Thus, the PSD was left in opposition while Justice and Truth
, the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania
and the Humanist Party
(now the Conservative Party) formed the government.
Senate of Romania
The Senate of Romania is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 137 seats , to which members are elected by direct popular vote, using Mixed member proportional representation in 42 electoral districts , to serve four-year terms.-Former location:After the Romanian...
and 314 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Romania
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...
were up for election.
The 2004 legislative election was held simultaneously with the presidential election
Romanian presidential election, 2004
A presidential election was held in Romania on November 28, 2004. 12 candidates competed for the office. As no candidate won more than 50% of the votes, a run-off was held on December 12, 2004, between the two leading candidates: prime minister Adrian Năstase of the ruling Social Democratic Party...
. According to the 2003 amendment to the Romanian Constitution, the presidential term is now five years instead of four, meaning that in the future, legislative and presidential elections will be held separately, only coinciding every 20 years (2024, 2044, etc.).
Contenders
The main contenders were the left-wingLeft-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
alliance made up of the incumbent Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSD) and the Romanian Humanist Party (PUR), and, on the other hand, the center-right
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
"Justice and Truth
Justice and Truth
The Justice and Truth Alliance was a political alliance comprising two political parties in Romania: the centre-right liberal National Liberal Party and the initially social-democrat Democratic Party , which later switched to center-right ideology.As the political formation with the largest...
" alliance (Dreptate şi adevăr) comprising the liberal National Liberal Party (Romania)
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
and the reformist Democratic Party (Romania).
Other significant contenders were the Greater Romania Party
Greater Romania Party
The Greater Romania Party is a Romanian radical right-wing, ultra-nationalist political party, led by Corneliu Vadim Tudor. The party is sometimes referred to in English as the Great Romania Party....
(PRM) (right-wing nationalists), the ethnic Hungarian party Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania
Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania
The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, is the main political organisation representing the ethnic Hungarians of Romania....
(UDMR), and the Union for Romanian Reconstruction
Union for Romanian Reconstruction
The Union for Romanian Reconstruction was a political party in Romania without parliamentary representation. It merged with the Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party in December 2004....
, a group of right-wing technocrats.
Election result
Apart from the deputy seats up for grabs in the election, each ethnic minority group that has not gained representation in Parliament will be given one deputy seat – 18 seats in total.
Controversies
The opposition alleged fraudulent use by the PSD of "supplementary lists", designed to help Romanians in transit to vote. Traditionally, Romanians voted with a cardboard identity card, which was stamped when they voted. Most Romanians now have laminated plastic IDs, to which a printed stamp is affixed when a person votes. However, the stamps can be easily removed.The opposition claimed that there were organized "electoral excursions" of PSD supporters who were bussed to various towns to vote several times. This was corroborated by several teams of journalists, who followed the buses.
The Romanian opposition announced on 30 November that they were demanding a re-run of the election, because some of the void votes were allegedly awarded to the PSD. They showed evidence that some people voted more than once (they found about 750 persons in three counties, but their search of the supplementary lists would continue) and also showed that many of the minutes of the electoral committees were wrongly completed (the sum of the number of valid votes and null votes did not match the number of voters, sometimes by a difference of hundreds or thousands of votes) and the central software not only allowed these contradictory figures, but it also added these differences by default to the PSD. The opposition announced that it had started a parallel count, which showed a PSD-DA difference of only 2% between.
The government attacked the opposition by arguing that 'rumours of fraud' affect Romania's economy and its external credibility.
In January 2005, the IMAS institute of statistics released an analysis of the voting results in the 16,824 precincts. In the top 1,000 precincts with the most votes on the supplementary lists, the PSD had 43% to the DA's 23%, while in the precincts with least votes on supplementary lists, the PSD had 30% to the DA's 34%. The same trend was true in the precincts with most void votes.http://www.imas-inc.com/download/analize.pdf It has been argued that this could not have been due to pure chance, and therefore that the alleged election fraud was real.
Government formation
No party holds an absolute majority, although PSD+PUR with UDMR and the other minorities hold a bare majority in the Chamber of the Deputies. On 13 December, the PUR president Dan VoiculescuDan Voiculescu
Dan Voiculescu is a Romanian politician and former business man. He is the Vicepresident of the Romanian Senate and founding president of the Conservative Party in Romania. ....
hinted that they have more in common with the DA (both have a center-right orientation) and that they might break from the PSD, but one day later said he will remain with PSD. It has been suggested by the press that this could be result of a blackmail about his communist past. By 25 December both UDMR and PUR signed a protocol of alliance with DA (Justice and Truth), with the designated prime minister being Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu
Calin Popescu-Tariceanu
Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu is a Romanian politician. He was the Prime Minister of Romania between 29 December 2004 and 22 December 2008...
. Thus, the PSD was left in opposition while Justice and Truth
Justice and Truth
The Justice and Truth Alliance was a political alliance comprising two political parties in Romania: the centre-right liberal National Liberal Party and the initially social-democrat Democratic Party , which later switched to center-right ideology.As the political formation with the largest...
, the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania
Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania
The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, is the main political organisation representing the ethnic Hungarians of Romania....
and the Humanist Party
Conservative Party (Romania)
The Conservative Party of Romania is a political party formed in 1991, after the fall of Communism, under the name of the Romanian Humanist Party . From 2005 until December 3, 2006, the party was a junior member of the ruling coalition...
(now the Conservative Party) formed the government.
External links
Central Electoral Bureau- BBC News – Fraud worries in Romanian poll
- OSCE election report (PDF, 350 KiB)