2004–08 legislature of the Romanian Parliament
In Romania's 2004 legislative election, held on November 28, no party won an outright majority. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) won the largest number of seats but was in opposition because the Justice and Truth Alliance, the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, the Romanian Humanist Party (which later became the Conservative Party), and the National Minorities formed a governing coalition. The Conservative Party withdrew in December 2006, meaning that the government lost the majority.[1] In April 2007 the liberal Prime-Minister, Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, dismissed the Democratic Party ministers from the government and formed a minority government with the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, marking the end of the Justice and Truth Alliance.[2]
Senate
The President of the Senate for this legislature was Nicolae Văcăroiu, who was elected on December 20, 2004. Following his ad interim presidency of Romania, he delegated his attributions to the vicepresident Doru Ioan Tărăcilă. After Văcăroiu was sworn in as president of the Court of Accounts, Ilie Sârbu was elected as the new President of the Senate.
The table below gives the state of play before the 2008 election; parties in bold were part of the governing coalition at the end of this legislature.
| Party | % of seats | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Democratic Party | 31.4 | 43 | |
| National Liberal Party | 16 | 22 | |
| Democratic Party | 15.4 | 21 | |
| Greater Romania Party | 13.1 | 18 | |
| Conservative Party | 8.0 | 11 | |
| Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania | 7.3 | 10 | |
| Independents | 8.8 | 12 | |
| Total | 100 | 137 | |
Chamber of Deputies
During the 2004-2008 legislature, the president of the Chamber of Deputies was Bogdan Olteanu from the National Liberal Party, who was elected on March 20, 2006, after the Chamber's former president, Adrian Năstase, was forced by his own party (the Social Democratic Party, PSD) to step down amidst allegations of corruption.
After the 2004 elections, several deputies from the Social Democratic Party switched to other parties (including the governing Justice and Truth Alliance) or became independents, with the total number of Social Democratic Party seats being reduced from 113 to 105. The number of Justice and Truth Alliance deputies also increased from 112 to 118, making it the largest formation in parliament as of October 2006. This changed again in December 2006, leaving the Social Democratic Party with 107 seats and the Justice and Truth Alliance with 101. Since April 2007 the Justice and Truth Alliance has split leaving the two former members with 51 respectively 50 members. Deputies elected to the European Parliament in the 2007 election resigned, thus reducing the number of deputies to 314 as of 4 December 2007.
A new election was held in 2008. The table below gives the state of play before the 2008 election; parties in bold were part of the governing coalition at the end of this legislature.[3] That coalition was tacitly supported by the PSD.[4]
| Party | % of seats | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Democratic Party | 32.31 | 105 | |
| Democratic Liberal Party | 20.62 | 67 | |
| National Liberal Party | 18.15 | 59 | |
| Greater Romania Party | 6.77 | 22 | |
| Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania | 6.77 | 22 | |
| Conservative Party | 5.85 | 19 | |
| National Minorities | 5.54 | 18 | |
| Independents | 4.00 | 13 | |
| Total | 100 | 325 | |
See also
References
- Guvern minoritar (Minority government), Evenimentul Zilei, December 4, 2006 Archived October 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- "Romania's prime minister names new Cabinet of minority government", Associated Press (International Herald Tribune), April 2, 2007.
- "source". Archived from the original on 2009-08-06. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
- "Romanian election neck-and-neck". BBC News. 2008-12-01. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
 Legislatures of the Parliament of Romania | |
|---|---|
|