| Parliament name (generic / translated) |
Parlamentul României / Parliament of Romania |
| Structure of parliament |
Bicameral |
| Chamber name (generic / translated) |
Senatul / Senate |
| Related chamber (for bicameral parliaments) |
Camera Deputatilor / Chamber of Deputies
|
| BACKGROUND |
| Dates of election / renewal (from/to) |
28 November 2004 |
| Purpose of elections |
Elections were held for all the seats in the Senate on the normal expiry of the members' term of office. |
Romanians voted on 28 November 2004 in the first round of the elections to choose the Head of State to succeed outgoing President Ion Iliescu. Parliamentary elections were held as well to elect all the members in both houses of Parliament. According to the constitution, outgoing President Iliescu was not allowed to seek another term as President and instead he ran for a seat in the Senate under the banner of the ruling Social Democratic Party
Opinion polls showed that the Social Democratic Party (PSD), running in alliance with the Humanist Party (PUR), had a six percentage-point lead over the second-placed Justice and Truth, an alliance of two parties, the centre-left Democrat Party and the centre-right National Liberal Party. The Greater Romania Party (PRM) of Mr Corneliu Vadim Tudor was placed third, with 13 per cent.
A total of 12 candidates ran in the presidential elections but two favourites were outgoing Prime Minister Adrian Nastase (PSD) and the Justice and Truth candidate, Bucharest Mayor Traian Basescu. Both were fervently in favour of Romania joining the EU in 2007, and of maintaining close ties with the United States. They differed on domestic issues. The opposition Justice and Truth alliance said it would fight widespread corruption within the administration and introduce a flat 16 per cent tax on personal income and profits to crack down on the country's widespread illegal economy. The PSD countered by saying it alone had the experience to lead the country.
Analysts said that voters could turn to Justice and Truth's blaming the ruling party for widespread corruption and low living standards but also said that many voters also credited the ruling party for bringing Romania into NATO and for boosting the country's economic growth.
The 18 international observers from 13 states belonging to the Organisation for the Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Observer Mission, declared that although the elections were well organised and professional, some procedural concerns were raised regarding suspension of the use of voter cards as it might have been possible for some people to vote more than once. The independent Pro-Democracy Association, which had more than 3,000 monitors deployed at polling stations, also raised concerns about how allowing voters to use any polling station in the country could have opened the door to multiple voting. According to the organization voters had admitted to having been paid for their votes in some localities.
On 1 December 2004, the Electoral Bureau announced the final results. According to these results, the PSD-Humanist Party (PUR) alliance had garnered 36.61 per cent of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies, followed by the Justice and Truth alliance (31.33 per cent), the Greater Romania Party (PRM) (12.92 per cent), and the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) (6.17 per cent). In the Senate, the PSD-PUR alliance lead with 37.13 per cent, followed by the Justice and Truth alliance (31.77 per cent), the PRM (13.63 per cent), and the UDMR (6.23 percent).
In the presidential election, the PSD candidate, Mr Nastase obtained a seven percentage point lead (40.94 per cent) over Mr. Basescu (33.92 per cent). The run-off was held on 12 December 2004 and Mr. Basescu was elected as President with 51.23 % of votes. |
| STATISTICS |
| Voter turnout |
| Round no 1 | 28 November 2004 |
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes |
18'449'344
10'794'653 (58.51%)
556'128
10'238'525 |
|
Notes
|
|
| Distribution of votes |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Candidates |
Votes |
|
|
% |
|
|
| Social Democratic Party (PSD) - Humanist Party of Romania (PUR) Alliance |
|
3'798'607 |
|
|
37.17 |
|
|
| Justice and Truth Alliance (PNL-PD) |
|
3'250'663 |
|
|
31.81 |
|
|
| Party of Greater Romania |
|
1'394'698 |
|
|
13.65 |
|
|
| Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) |
|
637'109 |
|
|
6.23 |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Total
|
|
|
|
|
| Social Democratic Party (PSD) - Humanist Party of Romania (PUR) Alliance |
57
|
|
|
|
|
| Justice and Truth Alliance (PNL-PD) |
49
|
|
|
|
|
| Party of Greater Romania |
21
|
|
|
|
|
| Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) |
10
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to sex |
Men
Women
Percent of women |
124
13
9.49%
|
| Distribution of seats according to age |
31 to 40 years
41 to 50 years
51 to 60 years
61 to 70 years
Over 70 years
|
20
40
54
20
3
|
| Distribution of seats according to profession |
| Engineers |
49 |
| Legal professions |
28 |
| Economists |
21 |
| Professors |
15 |
| Physicians |
13 |
| Others |
8 |
| Historians, sociologists |
3 |
|
| Comments |
Sources:
- Senate of Romania (04.03.2005, 01.01.2008)
- Romania Biroul Electoral Central
- Website of the Parliament: http://www.cdep.ro/pls/parlam/structura.de?leg=2004&cam=1&par=F&idl=2 (19.01.2005) |
A historical Archive of past election results for this chamber can be found on a separate page