Electoral Reform in Romania: From the Need for Party System Consolidation to Concern for Improved Quality of Representation
Electoral Reform in Romania: From the Need for Party System Consolidation to Concern for Improved Quality of Representation

Summary/Abstract: This study looks at electoral reforms in Romania made since the end of the communist period. It identifies two broad periods of reform corresponding to two different types of pressures on the policy-makers. (1) In the 1990s, there was a need for party system consolidation, and this led to the adoption of a highly inclusive first electoral law, followed up by two increases in the electoral threshold. (2) In the 2000s, a vociferous movement demanded more individual responsibility from parliamentary representatives. This led to the electoral reform of 2008, stipulating that candidates must run in single-member districts. The two different pressures outlined correspond to different stages of democracy and indicate a healthy evolution from the proto-democratic order of the 1990s, concerned with party system consolidation, to the more developed democratic order of the 2000s, when the public was concerned with the quality of representation and the power to unseat unresponsive MPs. In practice, however, as the academic literature shows, the 2008 reform has fallen short of its promises: the individual responsiveness encouraged by the reform seems instead to be leading to stronger political clientelism.

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