2009 Romanian parliamentary reform referendum

A referendum on modifying the size and structure of the Parliament from the current bicameral one with 137 senators and 334 deputies to a unicameral one with a maximum of 300 seats was held in Romania on 22 November 2009, at the same time as the first round of the 2009 presidential election. Electors were asked two questions on two separate ballots:

  1. Do you agree to the transition to a unicameral Parliament in Romania? (Romanian: Sunteți de acord cu trecerea la un Parlament unicameral în România?)
  2. Do you agree to the reduction of the number of members of parliament to a maximum of 300 persons? (Romanian: Sunteți de acord cu reducererea numărului de parlamentari la maximum 300 de persoane?)
2009 Romanian parliamentary reform referendum
22 November 2009
Do you agree to the transition to a unicameral Parliament in Romania?[1]
Yes
 
 77.78%
No
 
 22.22%
Do you agree to the reduction of the number of members of parliament to a maximum of 300 persons?[1]
Yes
 
 88.84%
No
 
 11.16%
Politics of Romania
Coat of arms of Romania
Constitution
Government
Parliament
Judiciary
Political parties
Elections
Administrative divisions
Foreign relations
Politicians

According to the Romanian law, in order for the referendum to be validated, 50% plus one of the total number of eligible voters (i.e. of the number of people that appear on the official electoral list) had to cast their vote. According to the final tally by the Romanian Central Electoral Commission, 9,320,240 of the 18,293,277 eligible voters participated, thus validating the referendum with a turnout rate of 50.95%.[2]

Background

Incumbent President Traian Băsescu signed the decree to hold this plebiscite on 22 October 2009.[3] The previous day, on 21 October, the Romanian Parliament in a consultative vote recommended against the President's proposed referendum, but, according to Romanian referendum law, Parliament's resolution was not binding.

In response to the referendum call, the National Liberal Party, in opposition to incumbent Băsescu, introduced a bill which would downsize Parliament to a total of 316 representatives – 99 senators and 217 deputies.[4] After counting more than 90% of the votes, the authorities announced partial results, including the information that 50.16% of the electorate expressed their votes making the result of the referendum valid.[5][6]

Results
Question 1
ChoiceVotes%
For6,740,21377.78
Against1,925,20922.22
Total8,665,422100.00
Valid votes8,665,42292.97
Invalid/blank votes654,8187.03
Total votes9,320,240100.00
Registered voters/turnout18,293,27750.95
Source: Biroul Electoral Central[7]
Question 2
ChoiceVotes%
For7,765,57388.84
Against975,25211.16
Total8,740,825100.00
Valid votes8,740,82593.78
Invalid/blank votes579,4156.22
Total votes9,320,240100.00
Registered voters/turnout18,293,27750.95
Source: Biroul Electoral Central[8]

Aftermath

After the referendum, from 471, the number of parliamentarians kept growing in Romania, due to lack of any legal limitations. In July 2015, after almost 6 years since the referendum was held, the number of Romanian parliamentarians was 588. No other referendum on implementing the legislation has been held in Romania since this one. The only one and last referendum (invalidated) was in 2012 for impeaching the president.

References
  1. Government Decision 1259 of 2009
  2. (in Romanian) Official results from the Romanian Central Electoral Commission Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine
  3. President Traian Basescu inks decree to organize referendum for unicameral Parliament on November 22 Archived 2009-10-24 at the Wayback Machine, Newsin.ro, October 24, 2009. Retrieved October 24, 2009.
  4. "PNL introduces bill to downsize Romanian parliament (SETimes.com)". Archived from the original on 2009-10-26. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
  5. (in Romanian) 53.52% DINTRE ROMÂNI AU VOTAT LA ALEGERI. REFERENDUMUL VALID Archived 2009-11-25 at the Wayback Machine
  6. (in Romanian) Referendumul, validat. Prezenţă de 50.16% Archived 2009-11-26 at the Wayback Machine
  7. (in Romanian)"Comunicat: privind rezultatele referendumului național din data de 33 noiembrie 2009 asupra trecerii la un Parlament unicameral" (PDF) (in Romanian). Biroul Electoral Central. 2009-11-25. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2009-12-30. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
  8. (in Romanian)"Comunicat: privind rezultatele referendumului național din data de 33 noiembrie 2009 asupra reducerii numărului de parlamentari la maximum 300 de personane" (PDF) (in Romanian). Biroul Electoral Central. 2009-11-25. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2009-12-29. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
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