Incumbent Romanian president Traian Basescu won 32.8% of the vote and will qualify for a runoff on 6 December against Mircea Geoana, who won 29.8% (via BBC).
In the run-up to this vote, the governing coalition supporting Basescu collapsed, and the president’s choices for a new government were turned down by parliament. Under Romania’s premier-presidential system, the president elected in the upcoming runoff will re-initiate the process of forming a new government. Parliament is not subject to election now, as Romania abandoned concurrent elections in a constitutional reform in 2003. The last parliamentary election was one year ago.
In a referendum also held yesterday, 80% of voters voted to abolish the Senate and reduce the size of the Chamber of Representatives from 471 334 seats to 300.
The proposal for unicameralism has been around a while: it was even one of the causes advanced by mass protests earlier in Basescu’s term, when supporters rallied against an impeachment attempt.
Just a clarification: The current Chamber of Representatives has only 334 members. The 471 that is on the post is referred to the size of the whole Parliament (Senate+Chamber). In any case, 300 is still slightly above the predicted size according to the cubic root rule (280).
Seed planted by Pedro — 23 November 2009 @ 22:57
Thanks, Pedro. I thought 471 seemed too high for the Chamber. As you note, even 300 is, in a sense, “too high.”
Seed planted by MSS — 25 November 2009 @ 16:20