December 4 (SeeNews) - Romania will hold regular general elections on Sunday, following nine months of minority liberal government.
A total of eighteen parties with over 7,136 candidates will compete to enter the 465-seat bicameral parliament.
The main participants in the race are centre-right National Liberal Party (PNL) led by prime minister Ludovic Orban and left-wing Social Democratic Party (PSD) led by Marcel Ciolacu, president of the lower house of parliament, the Chamber of Deputies.
Other major contenders are the alliance of centre-right parties Save Romania Union (USR) and PLUS; left-wing party Pro Romania; the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), and centre-right Popular Movement Party (PMP).
PSD is the biggest political force in Romania's current parliament with 200 seats, followed by PNL with 113. USR holds 38 seats, UDMR has 29, PMP has 15, and PRO Romania has 21 MPs. The remaining seats are held by 17 MPs representing minorities, and by 26 independent MPs.
Out of 465 MPs elected in 2016 for a four-year term, 459 remain in their seats. The remaining MPs were indicted on charges of corruption or abuse of office and had to end their mandates, or give up their seats.
At the December 6 elections, Romanians will vote on lists compiled by political parties under a proportional representation system.
The country is divided into 43 constituencies which elect 465 lawmakers for a four-year term. Four of them will be elected by Romanian citizens living abroad.
There are 18.19 million Romanian citizens eligible to vote. A total of 38,238 Romanians living abroad have requested to vote by sending their ballot papers through the postal office.
At the beginning of 2020, Romania had a population of 19.41 million people, data from the country's statistics office showed.
Polling stations will open at 0500 CET and close at 1900 CET.
Voters are asked to wear a mask and take all necessary precautions in order to avoid direct or prolonged contact with others, in order to avoid the spread on the coronavirus disease.
The vote will be the ninth general election in Romania since 1990, after Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown in December 1989.
The current minority government led by Ludovic Orban lost a no-confidence vote in February, but was re-approved by parliament in March.
Sources:
- State statistical office, INS
- Central Electoral Bureau, BEC
- Permanent Electoral Authority, AEP
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