ay of Romania, 1 December (1990)

Constitution: 8 December 1991

Legal system: former mixture of civil law system and communist legal
theory; is now based on the Constitution of France's Fifth Republic

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state : President Emil CONSTANTINESCU (since 29 November
1996)
head of government: Prime Minister Victor CIORBEA (since 12 December
1996)
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister
elections: president elected by popular vote for a four-year term;
election last held 3 November 1996, with runoff between the top two
candidates held 17 November 1996 (next to be held NA 2000); prime
minister appointed by the president
election results: percent of vote - Emil CONSTANTINESCU 54.4%, Ion
ILIESCU 45.6%

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament or Parlament consists of the
Senate or Senat (143 seats; members are elected by direct popular vote
on a proportional representation to serve four-year terms) and the
Chamber of Deputies or Adunarea Deputatilor (343 seats; members are
elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation to
serve four-year terms)
elections: Senate - last held 3 November 1996 (next to be held NA
2000); Chamber of Deputies - last held 3 November 1996 (next to be
held NA 2000)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - CDR 30.7%, PDSR
23.1%, USD 13.2%, UDMR 6.8%, PRM 4.5%, PUNR 4.2%, others 17.5%; seats
by party - CDR 53, PDSR 41, USD 23, UDMR 11, PRM 8, PUNR 7; Chamber of
Deputies - percent of vote by party - CDR 30.2%, PDSR 21.5%, USD
12.9%, UDMR 6.6% PRM 4.5%, PUNR 4.4%, others 19.9%; seats by party -
CDR 122, PDSR 91, USD 53, UDMR 25, PRM 19, PUNR 18, ethnic minorities
15

Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice, judges are appointed by the
president on recommendation of the Superior Council of Magistrates

Political parties and leaders: Democratic Party or DP [Petre ROMAN];
Romanian Social Democratic Party or PSDR [Sergiu CUNESCU]; Party of
Social Democracy in Romania or PDSR [Adrian NASTASE]; Democratic Union
of Hungarians in Romania or UDMR [Bela MARKO]; National Liberal Party
or PNL [Mircea IONESCU-QUINTUS]; National Peasants' Christian and
Democratic Party or PNTCD [Ion DIACONESCU]; Romanian National Unity
Party or PUNR [Valeriu TABARA]; Socialist Labor Party or PSM [Ilie
VERDET]; Agrarian Democratic Party of Romania or PDAR [Victor SURDU];
The Democratic Convention or CDR [Ion DIACO