Election campaigns in Romania

The campaigns for the presidential and the parliamentary elections are taking place concurrently in Romania

Roxana Vasile, 04.11.2024, 13:50

The campaign for the general election in Romania started last week, at midnight on Thursday, and will end on 30 November. During this period, the parties, alliances or independent candidates that have entered the race for a seat in the country’s new bicameral legislature must convince citizens to grant them the vote on 1 December. There are currently 330 MPs in the Chamber of Deputies, and 136 in the Senate, and the number of seats will stay at 466 in the next legislative term as well.

In the country, the vote for the parliamentary elections will be held right on the National Day, between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. local time. Ballots can be cast at the polling station where each voter is registered on the permanent lists. If at the time of closing the polls voters are still queuing, the president of the polling station can order an extension until 11:59 p.m., when the system closes automatically.

Romanian citizens residing abroad can vote either by mail, if they have chosen this option, or at any station organised outside the borders. The president of the Permanent Electoral Authority, Toni Greblă has more details:

Toni Greblă: “As many as 950 polling stations have been set up, so that Romanians who are outside the territory of Romania can exercise their right to vote. The voting period is longer abroad, namely, on Saturday and Sunday, from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., with the same option that on Sunday, I repeat, only on Sunday, if there are still citizens inside the polling station, they will be able to exercise their right to vote until 23:59, local time.”

The same number of polling stations in the diaspora, i.e. 950, will be set up for the presidential elections, the first round of which will take place on November 24, followed by a second round on December 8.

This calendar means that, at present, the two electoral campaigns, for the Parliament and for president, overlap, and the public space is virtually over flooded by politics and politicking.

Underway since October 24, the campaign for the first round of the presidential election will end on the morning of November 23. Until then, the “14 for Romania” – 10 candidates backed by political parties and 4 running independently – are trying to maximise their chances of entering the second round of voting.

After December 8, following three consecutive Sundays of calls to the polls, Romanians will finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief: 2024 will have been, after two decades, the year of all types of elections, including the local and European parliamentary elections held this summer. (AMP)