Chamber of Deputies (Romania)

Chamber of Deputies Camera Deputaţilor
7th Legislature
Type
Type	Lower house of the Parliament of Romania
History
Founded	1862
Leadership
President	Valeriu Zgonea, Social Democratic Party Since 3 July 2012
Structure
Seats	412
Political groups	PSD (158)      PNL (102)      PDL (52)      PP-DD (47)      UDMR (18)      PC (13)      FC (3)      PNȚCD (1)      National minorities (18)
Committees	14 - Committee for Economic Policy, Reform, and Privatization; – Committee for Budget, Finance, and, Banks, Committee for Industries and Services, Committee for Agriculture, Forestry, Food Industry and Specific Services; – Committee for Human Rights, Cults and National Minorities Issues; – Committee for Public Administration Territorial Planning and Ecological Balance; – Committee for Labour and Social Protection, Committee for Health and Family; – Committee for Education, Science, Youth, and Sport; Committee for Culture, Arts, Mass Information Means; – Committee for Legal Matters, Discipline, and Immunities; – Committee for Defense Public Order, and National Security; – Committee for Foreign Policy; – Committee for the Investigation of Abuses, Corrupt Practices, and for Petitions; – Committee for Standing Orders; – Committee for information technologies and communications; – Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men
Elections
Voting system	1992 – 2008: Closed list, D'Hondt method since 2008: nominal vote, Mixed member proportional representation
Last election	9 December 2012
Meeting place
Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest
Website
www.cdep.ro

The Chamber of Deputies (Romanian: Camera Deputaţilor) is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 412 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote in single-member electoral districts using mixed member proportional representation. Additionally, the organisation of each national minority is entitled to a seat in the Chamber (under the limitation that a national minority is to be represented by one organisation only).

Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies

Main article: President of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania

The Standing Bureau of the Chamber of Deputies consists of the President of the Chamber of Deputies, four vice-presidents, four secretaries, and four quaestors. The President of the Standing Bureau also serves as the President of the Chamber of Deputies. The President is elected, by secret ballot, for the duration of the legislative period. All the other members are elected at the beginning of each parliamentary session.

The political stance of presidents of the lower house after the development of a modern party system is given by:

PNL = National Liberal Party	PC = Conservative Party
PNR = Romanian National Party	PP = People's Party
PCD = Conservative-Democratic Party	PNŢ = National Peasants' Party
PND = Democratic Nationalist Party	PNC = National Christian Party
FRN = National Renaissance Front (from 1940 PN; Party of the Nation)	FP = Ploughmen's Front
PMR = Romanian Workers' Party (from 1965 PCR; Romanian Communist Party)	FSN = National Salvation Front
PDSR = Party of Social Democracy in Romania (from 2001 PSD; Social Democratic Party)	PNŢCD = Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party
PSDR = Romanian Social Democratic Party	PD-L = Democratic Liberal Party (until 2008 PD; Democratic Party)
Mil. = Military	Ind. = Independent

Interim (acting) officeholders are denoted by italics. The Rule of the Chamber of Deputies states that at the first standing of the house, the meeting is headed by the eldest senator and helped by the youngest senator. Those bear the title of Interim President of the Senate, and, as their term is very short (one or two days) are not listed. The interim officeholders listed have hold the office in different circumstances and for a longer time.

Elections	#	Name	Portrait	Born-Died	Took office	Left office	Party
Assembly of Deputies 1990 - 1992
1990	52	Marţian Dan		1935 - 2002	19 June 1990	16 October 1992	FSN
Chamber of Deputies since 1992
1992	53	Adrian Năstase		1950 -	28 October 1992	22 November 1996	FDSN/PDSR
1996	54	Ion Diaconescu		1917 - 2011	27 November 1996	30 November 2000	PNŢCD
2000	55	Valer Dorneanu		1944 -	December 15, 2000	November 30, 2004	PDSR/PSD
2004	(53)	Adrian Năstase		1950 -	December 19, 2004	March 16, 2006	PSD
	56	Bogdan Olteanu		1971 -	20 March 2006	13 December 2008	PNL
2008	57	Roberta Anastase		1976 -	19 December 2008	3 July 2012	PD-L
	58	Valeriu Zgonea		1967 -	3 July 2012	December 2012	PSD
2012					December 2012

Leadership and structure

Standing Bureau

Main article: Standing Bureau of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania

The (Romanian: Biroul Permanent) is the body elected by the deputies that rules the Chamber. Its President id the President of the Chamber, and s/he is elected for a whole legislature (usually four years). All the other members are elected at the beginning of each parliamentary session.

There is one President, and four of each: Vicepresidents, Quaestors and Secretaries. The current composition is listed below.

Function	Name	Group	Incumbent since
President	Roberta Anastase	PD-L	December 2008
Vice-Presidents	Ioan Oltean	PD-L	December 2008
	Adrian Năstase	PSD	December 2008
	Valeriu Zgonea	PSD	September 2010
	Marian Sârbu	UNPR	February 2011
Secretaries	Dumitru Pardău	PD-L	December 2008
	Niculae Mircovici	Minorities	February 2011
	Georgian Pop	PSD	September 2010
	Mihai Voicu	PNL	December 2008
Quaestors	Gheorghe Albu	PD-L	December 2008
	Nicolae Bănicioiu	PSD	December 2008
	Dan Motreanu	PNL + PC	December 2008
	Dénes Seres	UDMR	September 2009

Committees of the Chamber

Permanent committees and current leadership are listed below.

Committee	President	Group	Incumbent since
Committee for Economic Policy, Reform, and Privatization	Mihai Tudose	PSD
Committee for Budget, Finance, and, Banks	Maria Barna	UNPR	3 mai 2011
Committee for Industries and Services	Iulian Iancu	PSD
Committee for Agriculture, Forestry, Food Industry and Specific Services	Stelian Fuia	PD-L	9 Sep. 2010
Committee for Human Rights, Cults and National Minorities Issues	Nicolae Păun	Minoritati
Committee for Public Administration Territorial Planning and Ecological Balance	Sulfina Barbu	PD-L
Committee for Labour and Social Protection	Victor Paul Dobre	PNL
Committee for Health and Family	Rodica Nassar	PSD
Committee for Education, Science, Youth, and Sport	Cristian Dumitrescu	PSD
Committee for Culture, Arts, Mass Information Means	Raluca Turcan	PD-L
Committee for Legal Matters, Discipline, and Immunities	Buda Daniel	PD-L
Committee for Defense Public Order, and National Security	Costică Canacheu	PD-L
Committee for Foreign Policy	Attila Korodi	UDMR	2 Feb. 2010
Committee for the Investigation of Abuses, Corrupt Practices, and for Petitions	Ioan Stan	PSD
Committee for Standing Orders	Iustin-Marinel Cionca-Arghir	PD-L
Committee for information technologies and communications	Relu Fenechiu	PNL
Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men	Cristina Pocora	PNL
Committee for Romanians outside Romania	William Brînză	PD-L
Committee for European Affairs	Viorel Hrebenciuc	PSD	2 mai 2011

Party composition

Romania
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Romania
Constitution Constitution Adoption referendum 2003 amendments Constitutional Court
Parliament LIV legislature Senate President Crin Antonescu Standing Bureau Chamber of Deputies President Valeriu Zgonea Standing Bureau
Government President (List) Traian Băsescu Prime Minister (List) Victor Ponta Cabinet (List)
Judiciary High Court of Cassation and Justice Constitutional Court Courts in Romania Ombudsman Judicial reform
Political parties Parliamentary parties PSD PNL PDL UDMR PC Other ethnic minorities' organisations Non-parliamentary parties PRM PNG-CD PNŢ-CD PVE
Elections Permanent Electoral Authority Next presidential Last legislative Last local Last presidential Last European Parliament
Divisions Macroregions Development regions Counties Metropolitan areas Municipalities Sectors Cities Communes
Foreign relations China European Union NATO Moldova Moldova reunion Russia Embassies
Politicians General list Heads of state National Salvation Front Council Presidents of Romania by time in office Prime Ministers Ministers of Finance
Other countries Atlas Politics portal

2008–2012

Main article: 2008 - present legislature of the Romanian Parliament

 Seats in the Chamber of Deputies of Romania, 6th legislature

Parliamentary Group		Election seating		Lost	Won	Present
		Seats	%			Seats	%
	Democratic Liberal Party	115	34.43%	29	12	106	37.24%
	Social Democratic Party	114	34.13%	29	2	91	28.53%
	National Liberal Party	65	19.46%	21	6	56	16.22%
	Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania	22	6.59%	2	0	20	6.61%
	Ethnic minorities parties	18	5.39%	2	0	16	5.41%
	National Union for the Progress of Romania	—	—	16	16	12	6.01%
	Deputies without a group					8	—
	Vacant seats					25	—
Total		334	100	—		334	100

2004–2008

Main article: 2004 - 2008 legislature of the Romanian Parliament

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 Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, 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 withdrew in December 2006, meaning that the government lost the majority in the Chamber of Deputies. In April 2007 the liberal prime-minister, Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, dismissed the Democratic Party ministers from the government and formed a minority government with the Democratic Union 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 from the National Liberal Party, who was elected on 20 March 2006, after the Chamber's former president, Adrian Năstase, was forced by his own party (the Social Democratic Party, PSD) to step down amidst allegations of corruption.

After the 2004 elections, several deputies from the PSD switched to other parties (including the governing Justice and Truth Alliance) or became independents, with the total number of PSD seats being reduced from 113 to 105. The number of Justice and Truth Alliance 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 with 101. Since April 2007 the Justice and Truth Alliance has split leaving the two former members with 51 respectively 50 members. Deputies elected to the European Parliament in the 2007 election resigned, thus reducing the number of deputies to 314 as of 4 December 2007.

A new election 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.

Party		% of seats	Seats
	Social Democratic Party	32.31	105
	Democratic Liberal Party	20.62	67
	National Liberal Party	18.15	59
	Greater Romania Party	6.77	22
	Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania	6.77	22
	Conservative Party	5.85	19
	National Minorities	5.54	18
	Independents	4.00	13
Total		100	325

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 Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), 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:

Party	% of seats	Seats
PSD	44.93	155
Greater Romania Party	24.35	84
Democratic Party	8.99	31
National Liberal Party	8.70	30
Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania	7.83	27
National Minorities	5.22	18
Total	100	332

A list of chamber candidates for the year 2012 can be found here

External links

• Official web site of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania