Romanian voting system referendum, 2007

A referendum on changing the voting system to single-member voting was held in Romania on 25 November 2007, on the same date as the election to the European Parliament. The referendum was called by President Traian Băsescu on 23 October 2007 when the Parliament of Romania failed to meet a deadline set by him to pass these changes.

The precise question was:

Do you agree that, beginning with the next elections that will be held for the Romanian Parliament, all deputies and senators be elected in single-member constituencies, based on a majority vote in two rounds?

Sunteți de acord ca, începând cu primele alegeri care vor fi organizate pentru Parlamentul României, toți deputații și senatorii să fie aleși în circumscripții uninominale, pe baza unui scrutin majoritar în două tururi?

While the system proposed by the president would mirror the French two-round electoral system, Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu has proposed a mixed member proportional system based on the German electoral system. The proposed legislation would also reduce the number of MPs by about 20 per cent.

While the Greater Romania Party challenged the legality of holding the referendum at the same time as the EP election, the Constitutional Court of Romania decided on 2007-11-07 that there was nothing wrong with this.

Results

Romanian voting system referendum, 2007
Choice	Votes	%
No	784,640	16.17
Yes	3,947,212	81.36
Valid votes	4,731,852	97.53
Invalid or blank votes	119,618	2.46
Total votes	4,851,470	100.00
Turnout required	50
Registered voters and turnout	18,296,459	26.51
Source: Biroul Electoral Central

Although 81% of voters were in favour of the proposal, the low turnout of 26% meant that the referendum was invalid. Thus, the MMP proposal of PM Tăriceanu was used at the next elections instead.