Romanian Electoral Laws between 1990 and 2012: Reforms and Evolutions, or Absenteeism Generating Instability?
Romanian Electoral Laws between 1990 and 2012: Reforms and Evolutions, or Absenteeism Generating Instability?

Summary/Abstract: This paper aims to analyze the manner in which electoral reforms have been performed in Romania during the past 22 years, on the assumption that the large number of these reforms, as well as – at times – their ambiguity or complexity, represented important criteria which led to a constant decrease in the population’s voting participation, as well as in the diminished trust Romanians have in the political class. The first part of this paper examines Romania’s electoral legislation from 1990 to 2004, and the second, the period from 2008 to 2012, when the most drastic changes occurred, with major effects on both the manner of electing representatives and the manner of translating votes into parliamentary seats. The latter represented the part with the most changes and which produced some of the most serious debates, not only within the political class, but also – and especially – within civil society, and which determined, among others, the increased rate of absenteeism in the parliamentary elections of 2008 and 2012.

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