2004 Romanian general election

General elections were held in Romania on 28 November 2004, with a second round of the presidential elections on 12 December between Prime Minister Adrian Năstase of the ruling Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSD) and Bucharest Mayor Traian Băsescu of the opposition Justice and Truth Alliance. Băsescu was elected President by a narrow majority of just 51.2%.[1]

2004 Romanian general election

28 November 2004 (first round) 12 December 2004 (second round)
Turnout	58.5% (first round) 55.2% (second round)
Nominee Traian Băsescu Adrian Năstase Party PD PSD Alliance ADA PSD+PUR Home state Bucharest Bucharest Popular vote 5,126,794 4,881,520 Percentage 51.23% 48.77%
President before election Ion Iliescu PSD Elected President Traian Băsescu PD

Following 2003 amendments to the constitution which lengthened the presidential term to five years, these were the last joint elections to the presidency and Parliament.

Campaign

Parliamentary elections

The main contenders were the left-wing alliance made up of the incumbent Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSD) and the Romanian Humanist Party (PUR), and, on the other hand, the center-right "Justice and Truth" alliance (Dreptate şi adevăr) comprising the liberal National Liberal Party (Romania) and the reformist Democratic Party (Romania).

Other significant contenders were the Greater Romania Party (PRM) (right-wing nationalists), the ethnic Hungarian party Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), and the Union for Romanian Reconstruction, a group of right-wing technocrats.

Conduct

The opposition alleged fraudulent use by the PSD of "supplementary lists", designed to help Romanians in transit to vote. Traditionally, Romanians voted with a cardboard identity card, which was stamped when they voted. Most Romanians now have laminated plastic IDs, to which a printed stamp is affixed when a person votes. However, the stamps can be easily removed. In spite of this, electoral fraud is nearly impossible to commit, as every citizen is assigned to one local voting station, the only location he/she can vote at.

The opposition claimed that there were organized "electoral excursions" of PSD supporters who were bussed to various towns to vote several times. This was corroborated by several teams of journalists, who followed the buses.

The government attacked the opposition by arguing that 'rumours of fraud' affect Romania's economy and its external credibility.

In January 2005, the IMAS institute of statistics released an analysis of the voting results in the 16,824 precincts. In the top 1,000 precincts with the most votes on the supplementary lists, the PSD had 43% to the DA's 23%, while in the precincts with fewest votes on supplementary lists, the PSD had 30% to the DA's 34%. The same trend was true in the precincts with most void votes.

Presidential candidates

Name	Lifespan	Public Administration Experience	Affiliation and endorsements	Alma mater and profession	Candidacy Announcement dates
Traian Băsescu	Born: November 4, 1951 (age 53) Basarabi, Constanța County	Mayor of Bucharest (2000-election day) Deputy (1992-2000) Minister of Transport (1991-1992, 1996-1998, 1998-2000) Sub-Secretary of State for Naval Transportation with the Ministry of Transport (1990-1991) Director of Civil Navigation Inspectorate with the Ministry of Transport (1989-1990)	Affiliation: Justice and Truth Alliance Aliance members: PNL and PD	Mircea cel Bătrân Naval Academy (1976) seaman
Adrian Năstase	Born: June 22, 1950 (age 54) Bucharest	Prime Minister of Romania (2000-election day) Deputy (1990-election day) President of the Chamber of Deputies (1992-1996) Minister of Foreign Affairs (1990-1992)	Affiliation: National Union PSD+PUR Aliance members: PSD and PUR	Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest (1973) Faculty of Sociology, University of Bucharest (1978) lawyer
Corneliu Vadim Tudor	Born: November 28, 1949 (age 55) Bucharest Died: September 14, 2015, Bucharest	Senator (1992-election day) Former presidential elections: 2000: 28.3% (2nd place, 1st round), 33.2% (2nd place, 2nd round) 1996: 4.7% (5th place, 1st round)	Affiliation: PRM	Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest (1971) journalist, writer
Béla Markó	Born: September 8, 1951 (age 53) Târgu Secuiesc, Covasna County	Senator (1990-election day)	Affiliation: UDMR	Faculty of Philology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca (1974) journalist, poet
Gheorghe Ciuhandu	Born: June 15, 1947 (age 57) Timișoara, Timiș County	Mayor of Timișoara (1996-election day)	Affiliation: PNȚCD	Faculty of Constructions, Politehnica University of Timișoara (1970) building engineer
Gigi Becali	Born: June 25, 1958 (age 46) Vădeni, Brăila County		Affiliation: PNG	"Iuliu Maniu" High-school, Bucharest (1978) shepherd, football club owner
Petre Roman	Born: July 22, 1946 (age 58) Bucharest	Senator (1996-election day) Minister of Foreign Affairs (1999-2000) President of the Senate of Romania (1996–1999) Deputy (1990-1996) Prime Minister of Romania (1989-1991) Former presidential elections: 2000: 3.0% (6th place, 1st round) 1996: 20.5% (3rd place, 1st round)	Affiliation: Democratic Force	Faculty of Energy, Politehnica University of Bucharest (1968) hydroelectric powerplant engineer
Gheorghe Dinu	Born: unknown birthdate unknown birtplace		Affiliation: none	unknown education intelligence officer
Marian Petre Miluț	Born: December 29, 1955 (age 48) Craiova, Dolj County		Affiliation: People's Action	Faculty of Automation, Computers and Electronics, University of Craiova (1980) IT engineer
Ovidiu Tudorici	Born: October 16, 1969 (age 35) Câmpulung Moldovenesc, Suceava County	Deputy Mayor of Câmpulung Moldovenesc (2004-election day)	Affiliation: Union for Romania's Reconstruction	Faculty of Law, Petre Andrei University of Iași (1997) salesman, marketing specialist
Aurel Rădulescu	Born: August 13, 1953 (age 51) Adamclisi, Constanța County		Affiliation: Christian Democratic People's Alliance	Faculty of Law and Faculty of Tehology, unknown universities (unknown years) priest
Raj Tunaru	Born: November 12, 1959 (age 45) Țânțăreni, Gorj County		Affiliation: Democratic Youth Party	University of Petroșani (unknown year) mining engineer

Results

President

Winner by county in the first round

Winner by county in the runoff

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Traian Băsescu	Justice and Truth Alliance	3,545,236	33.9	5,126,794	51.2
	Adrian Năstase	National Union PSD+PUR	4,278,864	40.9	4,881,520	48.8
	Corneliu Vadim Tudor	Greater Romania Party	1,313,714	12.6
	Béla Markó	Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania	533,446	5.1
	Gheorghe Ciuhandu	Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party	198,394	1.9
	Gigi Becali	New Generation Party	184,560	1.8
	Petre Roman	Democratic Force	140,702	1.4
	Gheorghe Dinu	Independent	113,321	1.1
	Marian Petre Miluț	People's Action	43,378	0.4
	Ovidiu Tudorici	Union for Romania's Reconstruction	37,910	0.4
	Aurel Rădulescu	Christian Democratic People's Alliance	35,455	0.3
	Alexandru Raj Tunaru	Democratic Youth Party	27,225	0.3
Invalid/blank votes			339,010	–	103,245	–
Total			10,791,215	100	10,111,559	100
Registered voters/turnout			18,449,344	58.5	18,316,104	55.2
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

↓

33.9%				12.6%	40.9%
Traian Băsescu (ADA PNL-PD)					Adrian Năstase (UN PSD+PUR)

Corneliu Vadim Tudor (blue) positioned himself against Traian Băsescu, without openly endorsing Adrian Năstase. Marko Bela (green) openly endorsed Adrian Năstase. Gheorghe Ciuhandu (orange) openly endorsed Traian Băsescu.

↓

51.2%	48.8%
Traian Băsescu (ADA PNL-PD)	Adrian Năstase (UN PSD+PUR)

Parliament

Senate

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	National Union PSD+PUR	3,798,607	37.12	57	–8
	Justice and Truth Alliance	3,250,663	31.77	49	+23
	Greater Romania Party	1,394,698	13.63	21	–16
	Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania	637,109	6.22	10	–2
	New Generation Party	241,486	2.36	0	New
	Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party	196,027	1.91	0	0
	Democratic Force Party of Romania	95,953	0.93	0	New
	Ecologist Party of Romania	83,771	0.81	0	New
	United Socialist Party	60,027	0.58	0	New
	Romanian National Unity Party	56,414	0.55	0	0
	People's Action Party	52,487	0.51	0	New
	Romanian Socialist Party	42,306	0.41	0	New
	Romanian Workers Party	40,702	0.39	0	New
	Union for Romania's Reconstruction	37,630	0.36	0	New
	Socialist Alliance Party	37,019	0.36	0	New
	National Christian Democratic Party	33,299	0.32	0	New
	Social Democratic Party "Constantin Titel Petrescu"	25,637	0.25	0	New
	Democratic Youth Party	24,725	0.24	0	New
	Popular Christian Democratic Alliance	24,133	0.23	0	New
	New Democracy Party	23,514	0.22	0	New
	Third Millennium Party	21,301	0.20	0	New
	For the Motherland Party	19,314	0.18	0	New
	Alliance for the Unity of the Rroma	19,109	0.18	0	New
	Independent candidate: Eberhard-Wolfgang Wittstock	11,107	0.10	0	New
	Popular Party of Romania	2,436	0.02	0	New
	Force of Justice	1,186	0.01	0	New
	Independent candidate: Claudiu Adăscăliței	816	0.00	0	New
Invalid/blank votes		556,128	–	–	–
Total		10,794,653	100	137	–3
Registered voters/turnout		18,449,676	58.51	–	–
Source: AEP[2]

↓

28	21	11	10	21	46
PNL	PD	PUR		PRM	PSD

PNL and PD formed Justice and Truth Alliance (ADA). PUR was initially part of the National Union PSD+PUR but soon after the elections left the alliance and switched sides, becoming an ally of ADA.

Chamber of Deputies

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	National Union PSD+PUR	3,730,352	36.61	132	–23
	Justice and Truth Alliance	3,191,546	31.33	112	+51
	Greater Romania Party	1,316,751	12.92	48	–36
	Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania	628,125	6.17	22	–5
	New Generation Party	227,443	2.23	0	0
	Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party	188,268	1.85	0	0
	Democratic Force Party of Romania	79,376	0.78	0	New
	Ecologist Party of Romania	73,001	0.72	0	0
	Social Democratic Roma Party of Romania	56,076	0.55	1	0
	Romanian National Unity Party	53,222	0.52	0
	People's Action Party	48,152	0.47	0	New
	United Socialist Party	44,459	0.44	0	New
	Democratic Forum of Germans	36,166	0.35	1	0
	Romanian Workers' Party	35,278	0.35	0	New
	Union for Romanian Reconstruction	32,749	0.32	0	New
	Socialist Alliance Party	28,429	0.28	0	New
	Romanian Socialist Party	28,034	0.28	0	0
	National Christian Democratic Party	27,650	0.27	0	New
	New Democracy Party	20,926	0.21	0	New
	Social Democratic Party "Constantin Titel Petrescu"	20,318	0.20	0	0
	People's Alliance of Christian Democrats	18,594	0.18	0	New
	Democratic Youth Party	16,271	0.16	0	New
	Bulgarian Union of Banat–Romania	15,283	0.15	1	0
	Third Millennium Party	15,109	0.15	0	New
	Alliance for a United Romania	15,041	0.15	0	New
	Party for the Motherland	14,882	0.15	0	0
	Union of the Ukrainians of Romania	10,888	0.11	1	0
	Community of the Lippovan Russians in Romania	10,562	0.10	1	0
	Union of Croatians of Romania	10,331	0.10	1	0
	Union of Armenians of Romania	9,810	0.10	1	0
	Association of Macedonians of Romania	9,750	0.10	1	0
	Cultural Association of Slavonic Macedonians of Romania	9,595	0.09	0	New
	Federation of the Jewish Communities in Romania	8,449	0.08	1	0
	Democratic Union of Croatians of Romania	7,769	0.08	0	0
	Democratic Turkish Union of Romania	7,715	0.08	1	0
	Ethnic Turks Association	7,396	0.07	0	New
	Hellenic Union of Romania	7,161	0.07	1	0
	Union of Serbs of Romania	6,643	0.07	1	0
	Turco-Muslim Union of Romania	6,517	0.06	0	New
	Democratic Union of Turkish-Muslim Tatars	6,452	0.06	1	0
	Democratic Association of Slavonic Macedonians of Romania	6,344	0.06	0	New
	Bulgarian Cultural Association of Romania	6,240	0.06	0	0
	Association of Italians of Romania	6,168	0.06	1	New
	Democratic Union of Slovaks and Czechs of Romania	5,950	0.06	1	0
	Union of Poles of Romania	5,473	0.05	1	0
	Italian Community of Romania	5,181	0.05	0	–1
	Cultural Union of Poles of Romania	5,159	0.05	0	New
	League of Albanians of Romania	5,011	0.05	1	0
	Bratstvo Community of Bulgarians in Romania	4,065	0.04	0	0
	Cultural Union of Ruthenians of Romania	2,871	0.03	1	0
	People's Party of Romania	2,336	0.02	0	New
	Force of Justice	1,123	0.01	0	New
	Independents	51,646	0.51	0	0
Invalid/blank votes		599,641	–	–	–
Total		10,787,450	100	332	–13
Registered voters/turnout		18,449,344	58.47	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, Global Elections Database

↓

64	48	19	22	18	48	113
PNL	PD	PUR			PRM	PSD

PNL and PD formed Justice and Truth Alliance (ADA). PUR was initially part of the National Union PSD+PUR but soon after the elections left the alliance and switched sides, becoming an ally of ADA.

Aftermath

On 13 December, the PUR president Dan Voiculescu hinted that they have more in common with the DA (both have a center-right orientation) and that they might break from the PSD, but one day later said that he would remain with PSD. It has been suggested by the press that this could be result of a blackmail about his communist past. By 25 December both UDMR and PUR signed a protocol of alliance with DA (Justice and Truth), with the designated prime minister being Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu. Thus, the PSD was left in opposition while Justice and Truth, the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania and the Humanist Party (now the Conservative Party) formed the government.

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1616 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. http://alegeri.roaep.ro/?alegeri=alegeri-parlamentul-romaniei-2004

External links

• Central Electoral Bureau (in Romanian)
• Fraud worries in Romanian poll BBC News