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The national legislature is a bicameral Parliament (Parlament), consisting of the Chamber of Deputies or Camera Deputatilor and the Senate or Senat. Members are elected for 4-year terms by universal suffrage under party list proportional representation electoral systems.
The president is elected by popular vote for a maximum of two 5-year terms (4-year terms until 2004). He is Chief of State (charged with safeguarding the constitution, foreign affairs, and the proper functioning of public authorities), supreme commander of the armed forces and chairman of the Supreme Defense Council . According to the constitution, he acts as mediator among the power centers within the state, as well as between the state and society. The president nominates the prime minister, who in turn appoints the government, which must be confirmed by a vote of confidence from Parliament.
The Constitutional Court adjudicates the constitutionality of challenged laws, and decides on appeals from the regular court system concerning the unconstitutionality of laws and decrees. The court consists of nine judges, appointed for a term of 9 years. Three judges are appointed by the House of Deputies, three by the Senate, and three by the president of Romania.
The Romanian legal system is based on the Napoleonic Code. The judiciary is to be independent, and judges appointed by the president are not removable. The president and other judges of the Supreme Court are appointed for a term of 6 years and may serve consecutive terms. Proceedings are public, except in special circumstances provided for by law.
The Ministry of Justice represents "the general interests of society" and defends the rule of law as well as citizens' rights and freedoms. The ministry is to discharge its powers through independent, impartial public prosecutors.
For territorial and administrative purposes, Romania is divided into 41 counties and the city of Bucharest. Each county is governed by an elected county council. Local councils and elected mayors are the public administration authorities in villages and towns. The county council is the public administration authority that coordinates the activities of all village and town councils in a county.
The central government appoints a prefect for each county and Bucharest municipality. The prefect is the representative of the government at the local level and directs any public services of the ministries and other central agencies at the county level. A prefect may block the action of a local authority if he deems it unlawful or unconstitutional. The matter is then decided by an administrative court.
Under new legislation in force since January 1999, local councils have control over spending of their allocations from the central government budget as well as authority to raise additional revenue locally. Central government-appointed prefects formerly significant authority over the budget is limited to a review of expenditures to ascertain their constitutionality.
Romania has made great progress in institutionalizing democratic principles, civil libertiesCivil liberties are protections from the power of governments. Examples include freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and trial by jury. These are usually created and protected by a constitution. See also human rights, civil rights. All western democrac, and respect for human rightsHuman rights natural rights are rights which some hold to be "inalienable" and belonging to all humans, according to natural law. Such rights are believed, by proponents, to be necessary for freedom and the maintenance of a " reasonable" quality of life. since 1989. However, a large number of present-day Romanian politicians (members of all parties across the political spectrum) are former members of the Romanian Communist PartyThe Romanian Communist Party (Romanian: Partidul Comunist Roman was a Communist political party in Romania until 1989. History Early history The party was founded in 1921 when the Communist faction won control of Romania's Social-Democratic party and rena. Since membership in the party was a key requirement for advancing to high-level positions before 1989, however, people joined more out of a desire to get ahead than as a result of any political persuasion. Nevertheless, the Communist past of the majority of current Romanian politicians is a source of neverending controversy.
Over 200 new political parties sprang up after 1989, gravitating around personalities rather than programs. All major parties espoused democracy and market reforms, to varying degrees. By far the largest party, the governing National Salvation Front (FSN) proposed slow, cautious economic reforms and a social safety net. In contrast, the opposition's main parties, the National Liberal PartyThe National Liberal Party may be: National Liberal Party (Bermuda) a Bermudian party National Liberal Party (Germany) a former German party National Liberal Party (Lebanon) a Lebanese party National Liberal Party (Panama) a Panamanian party National Libe (PNL), and the Christian Democrat National Peasants' Party (PNTCD) favored quick, sweeping reforms, immediate privatizationPrivatization (sometimes: denationalization privatisation or — especially in India — disinvestment is the economic process of transferring property, from public ownership to private ownership. An opposite process is nationalization. In theory, privatizati, and reducing the role of the ex-communist party members. The Communist Party ceased to exist.
In the 1990 general elections, the FSN and its candidate for presidency, Ion IliescuIon Iliescu (born March 3, 1930, Oltenia) is the current President of Romania (since 2000). Iliescu was a leader of the revolution that overthrew Nicolae Ceausescu in December 1989. He was elected president on May 20, 1990, and after the adoption of the 1, won with a large majority of the votes (66.31% and 85.07%, respectively). The strongest parties in the opposition were the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), with 7.23%, and the PNL, with 6.41%.
After the FSN Prime Minister Petre RomanPetre Roman (born July 22, 1946) is a Romanian politician and he was the Prime Minister of Romania between 1989 and 1991, the President of the Senate between 1996 and 1999 and Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1999 and 2000. He is now a senator and lead's brutal sacking (following a descent on Bucharest, in late 1991, by angry and dissatisfied coal miners), just a few months before the 1992 general elections, the FSN broke in two. President Iliescu's supporters formed a new party called the Democratic Front of National Salvation (FDSN), while Roman's supporters kept the party's original title, FSN.
The 1992 local and national elections revealed a political rift between major urban centers and the countryside. Rural voters, who were grateful for the restoration of most agricultural land to farmers but fearful of change, strongly favored President Ion Iliescu and the FDSN, while the urban electorate favored the CDR (a coalition made up by several parties -- among which the PNTCD and the PNL were the strongest -- and civic organizations) and quicker reform. Iliescu easily won reelection over a field of five other candidates. The FDSN won a plurality in both chambers of Parliament. With the CDR, the second-largest parliamentary group, reluctant to take part in a national unity coalition, the FDSN (now PDSR) formed a government under Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu, an economist, with parliamentary support from the nationalist PUNR and PRM, as well as from the socialist PSM. In January 1994, the stability of the governing coalition became problematic when the PUNR threatened to withdraw its support unless given cabinet portfolios. After intensive negotiations, in August, two PUNR members received cabinet portfolios in the Vacaroiu government. In September, the incumbent justice minister also joined the PUNR. PRM and PSM left the coalition in October and December 1995, respectively.
The 1996 local elections showed a major shift in the political orientation of the Romanian electorate. Opposition parties swept Bucharest and most of the larger cities in Transylvania and Dobruja. This trend continued in the national elections of the same year, in which the opposition dominated the cities and made steep inroads into rural areas previously dominated by President Iliescu and the PDSR, which had lost many voters in their traditional stronghold constituency outside Transylvania. The electoral campaign of the opposition hammered away on the twin themes of the need to squelch corruption and to launch economic reform. This message resonated well with the voters, resulting in a victory for the CDR coalition and the election of Emil Constantinescu as president. In order to secure its electoral majority, the CDR also invited the UDMR (backed by the Hungarian minority) into government. Over the following 4 years, Romania had three prime ministers. However, despite these leadership changes, and constant internal frictions, the governing parties have managed to preserve their coalition.
Country name:
conventional long form:
none
conventional short form:
Romania
local long form:
none
local short form:
România
Data code: RO
Government type: republic
Capital:
BucharestAdministrative divisions: 41 counties (judete, singular - judet) and 1 municipality* (municipiu). See also Counties of Romania.
Independence: 1877 (from Turkey; proclaimed Kingdom on March 26, 1881; proclaimed republic on December 30, 1947)
National holiday: National Day of Romania, December 1 (1990)
Constitution:
December 8, 1991 (Revised October 19, 2003)Legal system: former mixture of civil law system and communist legal theory; is now based on the constitution of France's Fifth Republic
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state:
President Ion ILIESCU ( December 10, 2000)
head of government:
Prime Minister Adrian NASTASE ( December 28, 2000)
cabinet:
Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister
elections:
president elected by popular vote for a four-year term; election last held December 2000; prime minister appointed by the president
Legislative branch:
bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (143 seats; members are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms) and the Chamber of Deputies (343 seats; members are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms)
elections:
Senate - last held December 2000 (next to be held fall 2004); Chamber of Deputies - last held December 2000 (next to be held fall 2004)
election results:
Senat - seats or percent of vote by party - PDSR 65 seats or 46,43%; PRM 37 seats or 26,43%; PD 13 seats or 9,29%; PNL 13 seats or 9,29%; UDMR 12 seats or 8,57%;
Chamber of Deputies - seats or percent of vote by party - PDSR, 155 seats or 44,93%; PRM 84 seats or 24,35%; PD 31 seats or 8,99%; PNL 30 seats or 8,70%; UDMR 27 seats or 7,83%; ethnic minorities 18 seats or 5,22%
Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice, judges are appointed by the president on the recommendation of the Superior Council of Magistrates
Political pressure groups and leaders: various human rights and professional associations
International organization participation: ACCT, BIS, BSEC, CCC, CE, CEI, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EU (applicant), FAO, G- 9, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MONUC, NAM (guest), NSG, OAS (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UPU, WCL, WEU (associate partner), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, Zangger Committee
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission:
Ambassador Sorin Ducaru
chancery:
1607 23rd Street NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone:
[1] (202) 332-4846, 4848, 4851
FAX:
[1] (202) 232-4748
consulate(s) general:
Los Angeles and New York
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission:
Ambassador Michael GUEST
embassy:
Strada Tudor Arghezi 7-9, Bucharest
mailing address:
American Embassy Bucharest, Department of State, Washington, DC 20521-5260 (pouch)
telephone:
[40] (21) 210 01 49, 210 40 42
FAX:
[40] (21) 210 03 95
branch office:
Flag description: three equal vertical bands of blue (hoist side), yellow, and red; the national coat of arms that used to be centered in the yellow band has been removed; now similar to the flag of Chad, also resembles the flags of Andorra and Republic of Moldova.
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