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1. Main concepts

2. Institutions of representative democracy

Main concepts

In Romania there are no specific concepts regarding youth participation. Although the Youth Strategy 2015-2020 promoted public, civic and political participation, the concepts have not been officially defined in a document.

Citizens’ participation in decision-making is regulated in Romania by the Law No. 52/2003 on decisional transparency, which sets out two key regulations on participation, also relevant for young people. This law is the main instrument of public consultation in Romania. The two main rules provided by the law No. 52/2003 on decisional transparency are:

1. all public institutions initiating a normative act (at national or local level), have to publish a draft legislative proposal at least 30 days before its adoption and have to be opened to receiving comments and suggestions/amendments to the draft regulation from any citizen;

2. if a legally established organisation (NGO, trade union, employers organisation etc.) requests it, public institutions must organise a public debate as a face-to-face (or online) opened meeting for all organisations and citizens interested in the legislation proposed.

Institutions of representative democracy

Constitutional structure

Romania is a centralized state and a parliamentary democracy. However, the president is directly elected by the people.

Main representative institutions

There is no Constitutional youth representative institution. A law establishing the National Council of Youth from Romania was adopted in 2006 creating a representative structure of youth organisations (NGOs, trade unions, political parties youth branches etc.). However, the law was never implemented. The council was supposed to have both a representation and consultation role, but due to its overly complex and non-functional provisions it was never actually established.

According to the Romanian Constitution, the main representative institution at national level is the Parliament, with a 4 years mandate, with two chambers.

1. The Chamber of Deputies 

2. The Senate

The two chambers are both elected on party lists at the level of the state counties and mandate distribution is proportional to votes. The number of members generates the differences between the two chambers: the Chamber of Deputies has 332 members and the Senate has 137 members. 

The party or the party coalition holding the majority of seats in the two chambers of the Parliament proposes the prime minister and he or she is appointed by the president. The appointed prime minister forms a government and presents the cabinet and a government programme to the reunited chambers of the Parliament for a trust vote. 

The President of the republic is directly elected by the people, for a five years mandate

At local level there are three layers of administration with different representation through autonomous institutions, as follows:

• At county level (Romania has 41 counties) the representation is ensured by County Councils, with a four years mandate;

• At the level of the capital city the representation is ensured by the General Council of the Municipality of Bucharest, with a four years mandate;

• The locality/municipality level, including the six sectors of Bucharest, the representation is ensured by the local councils, with a four years mandate.

A Mayor, having responsibilities in executing decisions of the Local Council is also directly elected, for a four years mandate. In Bucharest a General Mayor is elected, as well as six mayors for the six sectors of the city.

Main legal principles concerning elections

The elections are organised in a universal, equal, direct, secret and free suffrage. The vote is cast in all cases on paper ballots by stamping the party or the candidate. Special stamps with the text: "voted" are manufactured for each election. No online or electronic vote is organised.

According to the electoral legislation, the place where a citizen can vote varies according to the elections:

• At the Parliamentary elections, Romanians can only vote in their residence county, as the party lists are proposed at county level;

• Elections for the Local and County Councils and for Mayors are hold together, and people can only vote in their residence municipality;

• At Presidential elections and at the elections for the European Parliament the constituency is national and people can vote anywhere in the country.

The vote is not mandatory in Romania and no proxy voting is possible. Since 2016 the electoral legislation introduced a form of voting by correspondence available only for Romanians leaving abroad and only after prior registration and request to use the voting by correspondence system to Romanian consular offices.