Social-Democrats get 221 of the 465 seats in Romania’s new Parliament

Six political parties will be represented in Romania’s Parliament after the December 11 parliamentary elections. The Social Democratic Party (PSD), which won the elections with over 45% of the votes, will have 221 senators and deputies of the total 465 MPs.

PSD is just 12 mandates short of making a majority in the Parliament and will likely cooperate with the Liberal Democratic Alliance (ALDE), led by former Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu, which got 29 mandates. PSD may also try to get support from the Democratic Magyar Union (UDMR), which will have 30 seats in the new Parliament, and from the minorities, which will be represented by 17 deputies.

PSD will thus propose a Prime Minister candidate to President Klaus Iohannis, which will most likely happen next week.

The other three parties that made it to the Parliament are the National Liberal Party (PNL), with 99 mandates, the Save Romania Union (USR), with 43, and former President Traian Basescu’s Popular Movement Party (PMP), with 26. PNL, USR, and PMP will likely form the “center-right” opposition in the Parliament.

The equation of power in the Parliament may change, however, as it’s quite common to see MPs switch sides and join other parties than the ones who got them elected.

The biggest unknown right now is what will happen to the National Liberal Party (PNL), whose poor score in the elections, of just 20%, will lead to changes in its leadership. A scenario that has been rumored in recent days is that PNL may reunite with ALDE, as Calin Popescu Tariceanu is still one of the most popular liberal leaders in Romania. Tariceanu was PNL’s president from 2005 until 2009. He left PNL in 2014, after the liberals broke their alliance with PSD, a move that Tariceanu opposed.

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[email protected]</s>BUCHAREST, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Romania’s leftist Social Democrat Party won the most seats in both houses of parliament after a national election and will have a combined 221 deputies and senators, final results unveiled by the Central Electoral Bureau showed on Thursday.

Together with their long-time ally, the ALDE grouping, the PSD has an outright majority of 250 seats out of parliament’s 465-seat assembly, which means they will choose the country’s next prime minister to replace outgoing Dacian Ciolos. (Reporting by Radu Marinas; Editing by Hugh Lawson)</s>*PSD will hold the majority in partnership with ALDE

The Social Democrats would have needed an extra 12 seats to hold the majority alone. The Save Romania Union (USR) won almost 630,000 votes, resulting in 43 seats in Parliament. The future Parliament will consist of six political parties, dozens of others having failed to cross the electoral threshold in Sunday’s elections.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) garnered 45.67 percent of the votes cast for the Senate in Sunday’s parliamentary elections at national level, and 45.47 percent of the votes cast for the Lower Chamber, Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) representative Marian Muhulet announced on Thursday.

PSD has 67 seats in the Senate and 154 seats in the Lower Chamber.

The National Liberal Party (PNL) obtained 30 seats in the Senate, with 20.41 percent of the votes, and 69 seats in the Lower Chamber, with 20.04 percent of the votes.

The Save Romania Union (USR) has 13 seats in the Senate (8.92 percent), and 30 seats in the Lower Chamber (8.87 percent).

The Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) has 9 seats in the Senate (6.24 percent), and 21 seats in the Lower Chamber (6.18 percent).

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) has 9 seats in the Senate, with 6 percent of the votes, and 20 seats in the Lower Chamber, with 5.62 percent of the votes.

The People’s Movement Party (PMP) has 8 seats in the Senate (5.65 percent), and 18 seats in the Lower Chamber (5.34 percent).

The representatives of ethnic minorities hold 17 seats in the Lower Chamber.

There are 465 MP seats overall.

Of the number of valid votes cast for the Senate, PSD won 3,221,786; PNL – 1,440,193; USR – 629,375; UDMR – 440,409; ALDE – 423,728; PMP – 398,791. Of the number of votes cast for the Lower Chamber, PSD won 3,204,864; PNL – 1,412,377; USR – 625,154; UDMR – 435,969; ALDE – 396,386; PMP – 376,891.

A total of 7,323,368 voters cast their ballots in the 11 December parliamentary elections. 7,047,384 valid ballots were cast for the Lower Chamber and 7,052,966 valid ballots were cast for the Senate.

Since the representatives of ethnic minorities other than the Hungarian minority won 17 seats (there were 16 seats at first but their number was hiked following a challenge), the future Parliament will have 465 MPs. This means the majority will consist of 233 MPs. PSD can secure this number only in partnership with ALDE.

PSD+ALDE hold the majority in the Senate (76 MPs, at least 69 needed). In the Lower Chamber, PSD+ALDE will have 174 MPs, 8 MPs in excess of the threshold needed (166 MPs).

13 political parties have failed to enter the Senate, including the United Romania Party (207,977 votes), Greater Romania Party (83,568 votes), the Romanian Ecologist Party (77,218 votes), Our Alliance Romania (66,774 votes) and the Romanian Socialist Party (32,808 votes).

The list of political parties who failed to enter the Lower Chamber is even longer, including 29 political parties and ethnic minorities’ unions.

The lowest number of votes for the Senate was registered by the Romanian Republican Party – 52 votes.

Who won the Diaspora and with how many votes

110,606 Romanians voted abroad, of whom only 4,591 opted for postal voting. Around 882,000 ballots were unused and consequently cancelled. Of the votes cast for the Lower Chamber, 861 were not valid and 267 were blank ballots. Of the votes cast for the Senate, 822 were not valid and 205 were blank ballots.

USR won the highest number of votes in the Diaspora: 31,461 votes for the Lower Chamber and 31,831 votes for the Senate. PNL was second, with 28,254 votes for the Lower Chamber and 28,453 votes for the Senate. PMP was third, with 25,254 votes for the Lower Chamber and 25,985 votes for the Senate.

PSD won over 10,000 votes for both the Lower Chamber and the Senate.

PSD did not secure absolute majority, PM’s office to be negotiated

PSD would have needed another 12 seats to fall under the provisions of Article 103, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution, which would have forced President Iohannis to appoint the Premier following consultations held exclusively with the party that holds the absolute majority.

(1) The President of Romania shall designate a candidate to the office of Prime Minister, as a result of his consultation with the party which has obtained absolute majority in Parliament, or -unless such majority exists – with the parties represented in Parliament.

PSD waited for BEC’s final and official results before any talks with President Iohannis, and this seems to have been the main reason behind PSD’s refusal to show up at the consultations that the Head of State initiated. Based on the exit-poll results and BEC’s partial results, the Social Democrats were hoping to win, through the seat reallocation process, another 12 seats besides the 221 seats they had initially won.

Lacking the absolute majority stipulated by the Constitution, PSD has to form a majority, something it has no problem doing alongside ALDE, as announced, the latter holding 29 seats following BEC’s announcement. In this case, the parliamentary majority of 252 MPs could vote to confirm a Government. If the signals concerning its openness to talks with UDMR result in UDMR joining a ruling coalition alongside PSD, then not only would the Government be easily confirmed, but it would also be able to adopt the laws it wants with a comfortable parliamentary majority. UDMR has 30 seats. These agreements are within reach and entail only protocols between these political parties which are tied by portfolios and positions held within the central and local administration.

There are rumours that PSD could recruit MPs from ALDE and other parties, in order to gain the 12 seats that separate it from the absolute majority mentioned by Article 103, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution. This too could be an explanation for PSD’s absence from the negotiations at the Presidential Palace. More precisely, in order for the MPs to be recruited and the needed seats gained, Parliament would have to be convened, the mandates would have to be validated, and other procedures would have to take place. Even so, it is very unlikely for the Head of State not to invoke BEC’s official results at the talks at Cotroceni, the results in which PSD is 12 seats short of holding the absolute majority alone.

What these parties cannot do on their own is appoint the Premier, this remaining the President’s prerogative.

Theoretically, the right wing of the political spectrum could secure a majority to back a Premier if all parties join hands and isolate PSD.

This is just a scenario. In 2004, Traian Basescu (who had won the presidential elections) managed to gather around Calin Popescu Tariceanu (nominated for PM’s office) the political forces that had previously been PSD’s partners, namely Dan Voiculescu’s PC and UDMR. That is how PSD ended up in the Opposition despite being the party with the highest number of seats.

Consequently, only after these results have been revealed and given the absence of a winner of the absolute majority can one say the Premier’s office is being negotiated. Between the Presidential Palace and the majority that is being formed. Only from now on will it matter whether this majority will form a single bloc around a single nominee for PM’s office, backing him in the face of the integrity criteria that President Iohannis announced. Liviu Dragnea had announced on the night of the euphoria of winning the absolute majority that PSD would decide and would then talk to ALDE too in order for a single nominee for PM’s office to be presented at the Presidential Palace. The maximum scenario, without potential for negotiation, a Digi24 analysis show.</s>President Klaus Iohannis announced that he will call the new Parliament on Tuesday and that on Wednesday and Thursday he will hold consultations with the political parties.

“I will call the new Parliament on Tuesday, 20 December at noon, consultations with the political parties are next on Wednesday and Thursday,” Iohannis said.

He congratulated the parties that entered Parliament and particularly the Social Democratic Party (PSD) for the result obtained in the elections.

“I want to congratulate the parties that have managed to enter Parliament, of course, the PSD in the first place, which obtained the highest score. I also congratulate all the 465 lawmakers who will make up the new Parliament of Romania,” the head of state said.

According to him, no party emerged with absolute majority following the vote in the parliamentary election.

“In this context, speaking of the final result of the elections, following the discussions in the public space, I have heard very many times the syntagm ‘people’s vote’. Indeed, the elections are the people’s vote, and the people’s vote in these elections hasn’t designated any party with absolute majority,” Iohannis showed.

“Defection – a toxic phenomenon; I won’t call to consultations a party which obtains majority like this”

President Klaus Iohannis also stated on Friday that defection from one party to another is a “toxic phenomenon” and pointed out that he will not call to consultations a party which would obtain majority through the ones who migrate.

“Political migration is, probably the most harmful phenomenon in Romanian post-December politics. I say this thing because Parliament which is just completing its tenure, and it’s good that it does so, doesn’t look anymore like Parliament which was elected four years ago. Or, this situation in a mature democracy is impossible,” the head of stated said at the Cotroceni Palace, adding that the defection is “a toxic phenomenon.”

He underlined that, if Romanian democracy looks good in other chapters, in this regard it looks bad.

“And the fact that it looks like there are political leaders who form the start imagine they can convince MPs to defect, so they will complete their team reveals that this is no exception, it is a phenomenon which is taken into account, which is promoted and used, but it is fundamentally wrong. My hope is that this defection won’t become a mass phenomenon in the new Parliament,” the head of state revealed.

In his opinion, if the defection is kept low, that would mean Romania is making progresses.

“I hope that this thing is also understood by political leaders, because it is very much up to them. If they encourage this phenomenon, it’s bound to happen. If they discourage it, it won’t happen,” the head of stated claimed.

President Iohannis mentioned that he will call political parties to consultations and not only a party which would obtain majority through defection.

“The formula that I have enunciated today remains, because I speak here about Parliament, which is organized on the voting result. The fact that subsequently some of them are migrating, that is their problem, it is no longer my problem and it is not connected to the consultations,” the head of state pointed out.

When asked about the option of another Government, besides the one made up of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), the head of state responded as follows: “I will say that at the right time, when I decide whom to designate for the Prime Minister office.”

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) will go to consultations with the President with a joint proposition for Premier, ALDE Co-Chairman Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said on Friday.

Asked at a press conference if he has discussed with the PSD leaders the concrete nomination they will make for PM, Tariceanu replied: “No. When we go to Cotroceni, we’ll go with a joint nomination,” adding that “only a special context” would justify ALDE’s insisting that he should be Prime Minister.

According to Tariceanu, the future ministers will be politically appointed and the political responsibility falls on the party that promotes the persons and the governing program.

“This is an essential difference between the current government of technocrats and what a political government is. Of course the ministers will be politically appointed, but in the end, the political responsibility for the public policies also falls on the party that promotes the people and the governing program,” Tariceanu underscored.

He added that negotiations are underway between ALDE and PSD on the governing program.

“In drawing our political future ALDE can in no way dissociate itself from the citizens’ vote. As far as ALDE is concerned, I want to say that we are consistent with the stance we’ve taken for more than two years now, that of having a political cooperation with the government, both in the former Ponta Cabinet and subsequently in Parliament with PSD (…). Taking into account the election outcome, which has given an extremely clear majority to our partners in PSD, as well as the vote of confidence that we received, we can achieve together the necessary majority to form the next government,” said Tariceanu.
Romania's centre-left Social Democratic Party won 45% of the seats in both houses of parliament in Sunday's election, and with the expected participation of the liberal centre-right Alliance of Liberals and Democrats Party in the coalition government, will hold an outright majority of 250 seats in the 465-seat assembly.