Romania elects on a national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature.
In a controversial move, on 6 December 2024, the Constitutional Court annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election.
[2] The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are elected in constituencies, by universal, equal, direct, secret, and freely expressed suffrage, on the basis of a list system and independent candidatures, according to the principle of closed party list proportional representation.
The option for an identical election system of the two Chambers of Parliament confers them the same legitimacy, as both of them are the expression of the will of the same electoral body.
The number of inhabitants taken into account is that existing on 1 January of the previous year,[3] published in the Statistical Yearbook of Romania.
[3] The Constitution of Romania and the Election Law grant to legally constituted organizations of citizens belonging to national minorities, in case these could not obtain at the election at least one Deputy or Senator mandate, the right to a Deputy mandate, if they have obtained throughout the country a number of votes equal to at least 5% out of the average number of votes validly expressed throughout the country for the election of one Deputy.
The system used is closed party list proportional representation, with a 5% threshold of the votes.
For the local and parliamentary elections, the voter can vote only at the polling station where (s)he has the permanent address (domiciliu), or the temporary residence (flotant) at least three months old.
Since the 2016 legislative election the Romanian electors residing abroad will be able to cast their vote via mail.
Voters express their choice by stamping the rectangle of the party or independent candidate (s)he wishes to vote for.
The Social Democratic Party (PSD) won the general election with a little bit over 29% of the seats in both houses of Parliament, but remained in opposition.