The Chamber of Deputies () is the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. It has 312 regular seats to which

deputies A legislator, or lawmaker, is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people, but they can be appointed, or hereditary. Legislatures may be supra-nati ...

are elected by direct popular vote using

party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a system of proportional representation based on preregistered Political party, political parties, with each party being Apportionment (politics), allocated a certain number of seats Apportionm ...

to serve four-year terms. Additionally, the organisation of each national ethnic minority is entitled to a seat in the Chamber (under the limitation that a national minority is to be represented by one organisation only). As of the 2024 election, there are 19 such additional seats.

Leadership and structure

Standing Bureau

The () is the body elected by the deputies that rules the Chamber. Its president is the President of the Chamber, who is elected for a whole legislature (usually four years). All the other members are elected at the beginning of each

parliamentary session A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two elections. ...

. The Chamber of Deputies in Romania is chosen through a democratic process, where all citizens have an equal opportunity to vote freely and privately. It serves as a forum for the exchange of diverse viewpoints on national matters. Its primary responsibilities, as outlined in the Constitution, revolve around legislating, overseeing the actions of the executive branch, and bolstering parliamentary diplomacy alongside traditional diplomatic endeavors. There is one president, and four each of vice presidents, quaestors, and secretaries. The current composition is listed below.

Last President of Chamber Election: September 2024

Committees of the Chamber

Standing committees and current leadership are listed below.

Party composition

2020–2024

Svgfiles 2021-11-16-15-59-23-736420-17509470880550906489

, - ! style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 rowspan=2 , Party ! style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Election seating ! style="text-align:center;" rowspan=2 , Lost ! style="text-align:center;" rowspan=2 , Won ! style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Present seating , - ! style="text-align:center;" , Seats ! style="text-align:center;" , % ! style="text-align:center;" , Seats ! style="text-align:center;" , % , - , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 110 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 33.33% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 6 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 3 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 107 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 32.42% , - , , style="text-align:left;" , National Liberal Party , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 93 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 28.18% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 16 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 4 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 81 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 24.54% , - , ! style="background-color: #00AAE7" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Save Romania Union The Save Romania Union (, USR) is a Liberalism, liberal List of political parties in Romania, political party in Romania. It is the fourth-largest party in the Parliament of Romania, holding 40 seats in the Chamber of Deputies (Romania), Chamber ...

, style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 55 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 16.66% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 13 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 42 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 12.72% , - , ! style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Alliance for the Union of Romanians The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (, AUR) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Romania and Moldova. It was founded in 2019 ahead of the 2020 Romanian local elections, 2020 Romanian local and 2020 Romanian legisl ...

, style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 33 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 10.00% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 11 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 23 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 6.96% , - , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR; , RMDSZ ; , UDMR) is a political party in Romania which aims to represent the significant Hungarian minority of Romania. Officially considering itself a federation of minority interests ra ...

, style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 21 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 6.36% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 20 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 6.06% , - , ! style="background-color: #000000" , , style="text-align:left;" , Parties of ethnic minorities , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 18 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 5.45% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 18 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 5.45% , - , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Force of the Right Force of the Right (, FD), sometimes translated as Right's Force or Right Force, is a liberal-conservative political party in Romania founded in December 2021 by Ludovic Orban, former National Liberal Party (PNL) president and former prime minis ...

, style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , — , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , — , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 17 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 16 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 4.84% , - , ! style="background-color: #c40075" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Renewing Romania's European Project Renewing Romania's European Project (, REPER) is a political party in Romania. It is a splinter of the Save Romania Union (USR) and is currently led by acting president Camelia Sălcudean. The party was founded in May 2022, in opposition to USR's ...

Social Liberal Humanist Party The Social Liberal Humanist Party (, PUSL), formerly Humanist Power Party (Social-Liberal) (, PPU-SL) is a centrist political party in Romania. It was founded in 2015 by members of the Conservative Party (PC) who did not want to merge with the ...

Romanian Nationhood Party The Romanian Nationhood Party (, NR or PNR) is a far-right, Romanian nationalist political party. It was founded by , a former member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). The party is critical of Hungarian-born American billionaire George Sor ...

Alliance for the Homeland The Alliance for the Homeland (, ApP, formerly known as PAINE) was a nationalist political party in Romania. History The party was founded on 19 September 2021 by Codrin Ștefănescu and promoted by Liviu Dragnea, who was the leader of the ...

, style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , — , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , — , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0.30% , - , ! style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Association of Italians of Romania , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , — , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , — , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0.30% , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Independents , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , — , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , — , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 12 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 15 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 3 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0.90% , - ! align=left colspan=2, Total ! 330 ! 100 ! colspan=2 , — ! 330 ! 100

2016–2020

, - ! style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 rowspan=2 , Party ! style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Election seating ! style="text-align:center;" rowspan=2 , Lost ! style="text-align:center;" rowspan=2 , Won ! style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , End seating , - ! style="text-align:center;" , Seats ! style="text-align:center;" , % ! style="text-align:center;" , Seats ! style="text-align:center;" , % , - , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 154 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 46.8% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 65 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 28 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 117 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 35.56% , - , , style="text-align:left;" , National Liberal Party , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 69 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 20.97% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 6 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 3 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 66 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 20.06% , - , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 30 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 9.11% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 11 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 6 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 25 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 7.59% , - , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 21 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 6.38% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 1 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 20 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 6.07% , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Alliance of Liberals and Democrats , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 20 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 6.07% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 10 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 4 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 14 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 4.26% , - , , style="text-align:left;" ,

People's Movement Party The People's Movement Party (, PMP) is an extra-parliamentary national-conservative and social conservative political party in Romania. History The PMP was created as a political foundation in March 2013 by supporters of then incumbent sta ...

, style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 18 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 5.47% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 9 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 6 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 15 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 4.55% , - , ! style="background-color: #000000" , , style="text-align:left;" , Parties of ethnic minorities , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 17 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 5.17% , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 17 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 5.17% , - , ! style="background-color: , , style="text-align:left;" ,

PRO Romania PRO Romania (, PRO) is an extra-parliamentary social liberal political party in Romania. History The founding of PRO Romania was initiated in 2017 by former Prime Minister Victor Ponta, former acting/ad interim Prime Minister and Minister o ...

, style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , — , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , — , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 21 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 21 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 6.38% , - , ! style="background-color: , , style="text-align:left;" , Humanist Power Party , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , — , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , — , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 0 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 7 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 7 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 2.12% , - , , style="text-align:left;" , Independents , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , — , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , — , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 11 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 38 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 27 , style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;" , 10.94% , - ! align=left colspan=2, Total ! 329 ! 100 ! colspan=2 , — ! 329 ! 100

2012–2016

2008–2012

2004–2008

In Romania's 2004 legislative election, held on 28 November, no party won an outright majority. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) won the largest number of seats but is currently in opposition because the

Justice and Truth Alliance The Justice and Truth Alliance (originally in ; or D.A. for short, meaning "yes" in Romanian) was a political alliance comprising two political parties in Romania, namely the centre-right liberal National Liberal Party (PNL) and the initially l ...

(DA), the

(UDMR/RMDSZ), the Romanian Humanist Party (which later became the Conservative Party), and the National Minorities formed a governing coalition, giving it 177 seats in the Chamber of Deputies (47.9% of the total). The Conservative Party (PC) withdrew in December 2006, meaning that the government lost the majority in the Chamber of Deputies. In April 2007, then national liberal Prime Minister,

Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu (; born 14 January 1952) is a Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania, prime minister of Romania from 2004 to 2008. He was also president of the National Liberal Party (Romania), Na ...

, dismissed the Democratic Party ministers from the government and formed a minority government with the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania, marking the end of the Justice and Truth Alliance. During the 2004–2008 legislature, the president of the Chamber of Deputies was

Bogdan Olteanu Bogdan Olteanu (born 29 October 1971) is a Romanian politician and lawyer. He was the president of the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of the Romanian Parliament) between 2006 and 2008. Olteanu had formerly been a member of the National Li ...

from the National Liberal Party (PNL), who was elected on 20 March 2006, after the Chamber's former president,

Adrian Năstase Adrian Năstase (; born 22 June 1950) is a Romanian jurist, academic/professor, blogger, and former politician who served as the prime minister of Romania from December 2000 to December 2004. He competed in the 2004 Romanian presidential elect ...

, was forced by his own party (the

, PSD) to step down amidst corruption allegations. After the 2004 elections, several deputies from the PSD switched to other parties (including the governing

) or became independents, with the total number of PSD seats being reduced from 113 to 105. The number of Justice and Truth Alliance (DA) deputies also increased from 112 to 118, making it the largest formation in parliament as of October 2006. This changed again in December 2006, leaving the PSD with 107 seats and the Justice and Truth Alliance (DA) with 101. Since April 2007 the Justice and Truth Alliance (DA) has split leaving the two former members with 51 respectively 50 members. Deputies elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

in the 2007 election resigned, thus reducing the number of deputies to 314 as of 4 December 2007. A new

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

was held in 2008. The table below gives the state of play before the 2008 election; parties in bold were part of the governing coalition. That coalition was tacitly supported by the PSD.

2000–2004

Elections to the Chamber of Deputies were held on 26 November 2000, in which the Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSD) won plurality. The governing majority was formed from the PSD and the

(UDMR/RMDSZ), which, with 182 members, made up 54.8% of seats. The president of the Chamber of Deputies during this period was Valer Dorneanu, who was elected on 15 December 2000. The distribution of seats was as follows:

Leadership and structure

Standing Bureau

Last President of Chamber Election: September 2024

Committees of the Chamber

Party composition

2020–2024

2016–2020

2012–2016

2008–2012

2004–2008

2000–2004

1996–2000

1992–1996

1990–1992

See also

Notes

References

External links