Parliamentary Elections 2024: Romanians to Vote in Crucial Poll

By Alina Grigoras Last updated Dec 1, 2024

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Romanians are expected to vote in parliamentary elections on Sunday, December 1, to elect their representatives to the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The elections are taking place in a complicated context for Romania, and the foreign press is calling them “the most important elections in the last 35 years.”

39 parties and 19 minority organizations have entered the race. Polling stations across the country open on Sunday morning, at 7:00 a.m., and close at 9:00 p.m. Romanians in the diaspora have two days to vote, Saturday and Sunday.

Over 250,000 people voted on Sunday at polling stations across the country, in the first hour of the polls opening. The national turnout is 1.39%, higher than 4 years ago, when it was 1.29%. In the country, people voted: almost 189,500 on permanent lists, over 61,000 on additional lists and 4 with a mobile ballot box. Abroad, over 171,000 voters voted, of which 4,343 by mail. The total turnout is 2.39%. In 2020, at the same time, the national turnout was 1.29%, with over 230,000 voters showing up at the polls. The highest turnout at 8:00 am is in Olt County, respectively 1.87%. Ilfov and Dâmbovița counties follow with a turnout of 1.78% and 1.76%, respectively.

31 parties and alliances and 19 national minority organizations registered for the 2024 parliamentary elections. PSD has 636 candidates, the largest number. Next are S.O.S. România with 636 candidates, PNL, with 630 candidates, AUR, with 621, Forța Dreptei with 619, UDMR with 596 candidates and USR, with 589 candidates. The list with candidates.

By 8.30 p.m. the turnout stood at 51,88 %, meaning 9,342,536 had voted in Romania and Diaspora for how the next Romanian Parliament will look like.

By 8 p.m. the turnout stood at 51,18 %, meaning 9.215.955 had voted in Romania and Diaspora.

By 7.30 p.m. the turnout exceeded 50%, more precisely 50,59 % .

By 7 p.m. 8,892,401 Romanians shad cast their votes, which means a turnout of 49,38 % in the country and Diaspora.

By 6 p.m. 8,330,604 Romanians had voted, turnout of 46,26 %.

Voter turnout reached 42.05%, at 5:00 p.m. So far, 7.5 million Romanians have voted in the country and over 549,000 abroad.

By 12:00hrs, 3,206,353 Romanians in the country and Diaspora voted in the parliamentary elections. The turnout stood at 17.80%, with people in the cities voting more, 1,923,757 than in the countryside,1,299,603.

By 11:00hrs, over 2.2 million Romanians in the country and over 208,000 in the diaspora had voted. The voter turnout reached 12.22%. This is a higher turnout than in the first round of the presidential elections.

By 09:30hrs, 1,029,114 Romanians have already voted in the parliamentary elections, of which over 170,000 abroad. The voter turnout is 5.71%, at this time, according to AEP data.

By 09:00hrs, 800,066 Romanians have voted, equivalent to a turnout of 4.44%, of which 175,202 abroad. In other words, in the country, in the first two hours after the opening of the polling stations, over 624,000 Romanians have voted. The turnout in the country is 3.42%, significantly higher than four years ago, when at 09:00 it was 2.78%.

Romanians in the diaspora vote on Sunday, the second day of voting, in the elections for the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Voting in this election began on Friday at 20:00 Romanian time, when the polling station organized in Auckland, New Zealand, opened (at 07:00 local time). By Sunday morning, at 07:00, over 170,000 people in the diaspora had voted. The electoral district abroad has 2 senators and 4 deputies.

The stakes of the 2024 parliamentary elections

Sunday’s parliamentary elections have a huge stake, given that the Constitutional Court decided to recount the votes from the first round of the presidential elections, and a candidate with anti-EU, anti-NATO views and legionary sympathies reached the final. Romania is a semi-presidential republic with a head of state and a head of government, organized according to the principle of separation of powers in the state (legislative, executive and judicial).

Parliament adopts or rejects laws, appoints members of the Government and other institutions crucial to democracy and can overthrow governments through motions of censure. Documents that pass Parliament must also be approved by the president. The electoral system is proportional, members are elected from all parties that have exceeded the electoral threshold of 5% of the national vote or at least 20% of the votes in four constituencies. Electoral alliances must pass a higher threshold, namely 8% for two-party alliances, 9% for three-party alliances, and 10% for multi-party alliances.

President Klaus Iohannis made a brief press statement after voting at the Jean Monnet High School polling station. “It is a very important vote, because in Parliament the laws of Romania are voted on, the Government is voted on. It is very important to know how to position ourselves when we come to vote. Romanians have chosen the Euro-Atlantic path and they have chosen it well. We are well integrated in the EU, well positioned and very respected in NATO. To keep it that way, we must vote that way. In conclusion, welcome to the vote, I voted for a European Romania. Thank you, I wish you once again a Happy Birthday”, Klaus Iohannis said.

Elena Lasconi, the USR President and candidate in the presidential election runoffs voted in Campulung, where she resides and where she is mayor.

“I voted with the thought that we will continue on the European and Euro-Atlantic line and that I will be able to see my daughter, that I will be able to see my brother again, that I will be able to see a large part of my family again. I voted from Câmpulung, where the longest-lasting resistance movement against communism took place. I hope that Elisabeta Rizea will hear us, from there next to the angels.”

“I voted with the confidence that we will not be brought to our knees, that we will remain free, that we will think freely. We voted for the Romania that I love and that I am sure you all love. Happy birthday Romania, happy birthday to all Romanians, today is a very important day, because laws are being decided in Parliament, we have important laws for the prosperity of the people, for more money to remain in their pockets, important for the security of this country. These elections are extremely important and I am watching with concern what is happening in Georgia and we should also ask ourselves many questions. I voted with a team of people who can really make a change in this country, which has been led by incompetent politicians for 35 years, and I know that they can,” said Elena Lasconi.

Asked what message she has for Romanians on the occasion of the elections, Lasconi urged them to go out to vote, to defend their democracy and freedom.

“I urge them to go out to vote, I hope that these elections will be the ones with the highest voter turnout. I know that about half of the people with the right to vote voted. Come and vote, because now we can defend our democracy and freedom. At our borders there are others who defend their democracy and freedom with guns in their hands,” the USR candidate replied.

Asked about her expectations after the vote recount, the USR president replies that she expects Romania to remain on the Euro-Atlantic line “I expect us to remain on the Euro-Atlantic line and I expect as many people as possible to vote,” Lasconi replied.

The interim president of the PNL, Ilie Bolojan, said after voting in the parliamentary elections that he voted “with a modern Romania and a European Romania in mind”. “I urge all Romanians to go to the polls because every vote today has great importance. Today we are voting not only for our country, but we are also voting for people and parties. We voted both in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate with people whom you recognize not by their words, but by their deeds. We voted for our values, for family, for community and for the country. Regardless of your options, please come out to vote, but after that, starting tomorrow, we must respect each other and be united in the spirit of National Day”, declared Ilie Bolojan.

Nicușor Dan had a message for voters, after casting his vote at a polling station in Bucharest. “These are the most important elections of this year.They will decide what Romania will look like in the next four years. Let them get informed and vote!”, said Nicușor Dan.

The outgoing PSD president said, after voting, that he chose for “Romania to continue to be in the Schengen area and in the EU and in NATO”. “I believe that today Romanians have a choice between stability and chaos, between development, especially on European funds, and a lack of funds for pensions and salaries, I believe that today is a very important day for all of us Romanians to continue our European and North Atlantic path. It is the most important thing we have to choose today”, said Marcel Ciolacu.

Independent presidential candidate Călin Georgescu, who came first in the first round of the presidential election, voted in the parliamentary elections on Sunday, saying he voted “for good to overcome evil,” “for peace, not for war.” “I voted for respect, for total political responsibility, dedicated to the Romanian nation. I voted for Romania, alongside Romania, always for Romania,” Georgescu said. He left without answering journalists’ questions.

AUR President George Simion said he voted with the National Day and the youth in mind. He cast his vote at the Unirea College in Focsani shortly after the polls opened. “I voted with the National Day in mind, with the elders and the youth, with my child Radu, with all the children of Romania. I voted so that for the first time in 35 years we can free ourselves from chains, from shackles, from those who seek to keep us prisoners of poverty in a rich country. I voted with the Romanians who have gone abroad as refugees. I voted with the thought that they are neither traitors nor unskilled workers,” Simion said after voting.

US Ambassador yo Romania, Kathleen Kavalec, also sent a message on Romania’s elections.

“In recent days, many Romanians have expressed concerns over the course of their national elections, including the surprising results of the first round of the presidential elections, reports of campaign violations on use of social media and lack of transparency in financing, and the decision to conduct a recount of those results.

Our hope is that whatever decisions might or might not be taken by Romanian authorities and by the candidates themselves in the days ahead, Romania’s strong track record as a reliable democratic partner in Europe and in the Euro-Atlantic community will not be tarnished.

The fundamental purpose of a free and fair election is to ensure that those who govern have a clear mandate from the people they represent. No decision made during this crucial period should limit the right of Romanians to vote freely nor further put at risk the credibility of the election process. “

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