l institutions, medical programs, and the militia.

THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM

According to the 1965 Constitution, all power belongs to the working
people joined in a worker-peasant alliance; power is exercised through
the people's representative bodies--the Grand National Assembly and the
several levels of people's councils. Theoretically, these bodies are
elected by, controlled by, and responsible to the working people.
Emphasis is placed on the direct participation of the citizens through
their local people's councils, party units, and chapters of the mass
organizations (see ch. 9).

Although the Constitution asserts the right of all citizens eighteen
years of age and older to participate in the election of all
representative bodies on the basis of a universal, direct, equal, and
secret vote, it does not determine how elections are to be organized or
specify who is responsible for conducting them. The Constitution does
declare, however, that the right to nominate candidates belongs to the
PCR, as well as to all labor unions, cooperatives, youth and women's
leagues, cultural associations, and other mass organizations. Citizens
who have reached the age of twenty-three are eligible to be candidates
for elective office.

Separate legislation provides for general elections to be held every
four years and local communal elections to be conducted every two years.
Elections are organized under the direction of the Socialist Unity
Front, the national entity that incorporates the country's numerous mass
organizations under the leadership of the PCR (see ch. 9). All
candidates for elective office must have the approval of the front in
order to be placed on the ballot, a requirement that ensures that no
candidate unacceptable to the front's leadership will be placed in
nomination.

The Socialist Unity Front was officially established in November 1968 as
a replacement for the People's Democratic Front, which had existed since
the Communists began to organize effectively in the country during World
War II. The Socialist Unity Front lists among its member organizations,
in addition to the PCR, the labor unions; cooperative farm
organizations; consumer cooperatives; professional, scientific, and
cultural associations; student, youth, women's, and veterans'
organizations; religious bodies; and representatives of the Hungarian,
German, Serbian, and Ukrainian minorities. At the time of its formation,
Ceausescu was elected as the fro