Senate of Romania
The Senate (Romanian: Senat) is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 136 seats (before the 2016 Romanian parliamentary election the total number of elected representatives was 176[1]), to which members are elected by direct popular vote using party-list proportional representation[1] in 43 electoral districts (the 41 counties, the city of Bucharest plus 1 constituency for the Romanians living abroad), to serve four-year terms.
Not to be confused with Roman Senate.
Senate
Senatul
1864
136
Government (85)
Opposition (51)
- Save Romania Union (20)
- Alliance for the Union of Romanians (13)[b]
- Democratic Alliance of Hungarians (9)
- Non-affiliated (8)[c]
- Committee for legal affairs, appointments, discipline, immunities and validations
- Committee on Budget, finance, banking and capital market
- Commission for economy, industry and services
- Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development
- Committee on Foreign Affairs
- Committee on public administration, the territory and environmental protection
- Commission for defense, public order and national security
- Commission for work, family and social protection
- Committee for Education, Science, Youth and Sports
- Committee on Public Health
- Committee for culture, art and media information in the table
- Commission on Human Rights, religious and minority
- Committee on Equal Opportunities
- Commission for privatization and management of state assets
- Committee on research abuses, corruption and petitions
- 1992–2008; 2016–present: Closed list, D'Hondt method
- 2008–2016: nominal vote, mixed member proportional representation
History[edit]
First Senate (1859–1944)[edit]
The parliamentary history of Romania is seen as beginning in May 1831 in Wallachia, where a constitution called Regulamentul Organic ("Organic Statute") was promulgated by the Russian Empire and adopted. In January 1832 it came into force in Moldavia also. This laid the foundations for the parliamentary institution in the two Romanian principalities. At the Congress of Paris of 1856, Russia gave up to Moldavia the left bank of the mouth of the Danube, including part of Bessarabia, and also gave up its claim to be the protector of Christians in the Ottoman Empire. Moldavia and Wallachia, while remaining under the suzerainty of the Ottomans, were recognized as quasi-independent self-governing principalities under the protection of the other European Powers.
The Paris Convention of 19 August 1858 promulgated Statutul Dezvoltător ("Expanding Statute"), to introduce a bicameral parliament, with an upper house named in Romanian Corpul Ponderator ("Moderating Body"). This was later renamed the Senat. A formal Union of the two principalities came in 1859. On the initiative of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, a plebiscite in 1864 enlarged the principle of national representation.[2]
The 1866 Constitution of Romania proclaimed constitutional monarchy as Romania's form of government, on the basis of national sovereignty and the separation of powers. Legislative power was to be exercised by the new Prince (Carol I of Romania) and a bi-cameral parliament, with an Assembly of Deputies and a Senate.
On 9 May 1877, the Declaration of Romania's independence was read under the dome of the Romanian Parliament.
The 1923 Constitution, approved by both houses of parliament in May 1923, again entrusted legislative power to the Senate, the Assembly of Deputies, and the King. The constitution instituted the membership by right (senator de drept) in the Senate for:
Former locations[edit]
The first Romanian Senate functioned between 1864 and 1869 in a small building, which still exists today on the Calea Șerban Vodă. Once the new building of the University of Bucharest was inaugurated, the Senate moved in a bigger hall in that building. Between 1929 and 1940, it was temporarily housed in a building on the Regina Elisabeta Boulevard, while a new Palace of the Senate was to be built in today's Națiunile Unite Square. This building was never finished.
After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the Senate was housed in the "Palace of the Senate" (Romanian: Palatul Senatului), located in Revolution Square. That U-shaped structure was built from 1938 to 1941 under engineer Emil Prager's coordination, following the plans of architect Emil Nădejde. It housed the Council of Ministers and from 1958 to 1989 it was the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR). During the Revolution, Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena fled by helicopter from the roof of the building. In 2005 the senators moved into the Palace of the Parliament, joining their colleagues from the Chamber of Deputies. "Palatul Senatului" now houses the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
