THE IMPACT OF THE LEGISLATIVE ENVIRONMENT ON THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN ROMANIA

Abstract

The accession of Romania to the European Union on the 1st of January, 2007, after the Accession Treaty, signed on the 25th of April, 2005, was ratified by all the Member States of the Union, led to changes in the legislative environment governing the electoral market. Our country organized in May 2014, for the third time, elections for the European Parliament. The election system practiced in Romania does not provide incentives for candidates to develop a competitive election bid, explained in detail to the electorate, so the performance during the mandate can be assessed. The Romanian representatives in the European Parliament are elected under a system of closed national list vote, which reduces the power of voters to distinguish the candidates in the vote. At the European Union level, there is not a unique voting system adopted, in the context that most Member States practice competitive electoral systems, in which candidates have the opportunity to differentiate themselves by an electoral offer.