2004–08 legislature of the Romanian Parliament

Parliament of Romania
LII legislature
December 2004 – December 2008
< 2000–2004 2008–present >
Parliamentarians
Senators	135
Deputies	325
Sessions
1st Session December 2004 - December 2004
2nd Session March 2005 - July 2005
3rd Session September 2005 - December 2005
4th Session March 2006 - July 2006
5th Session September 2006 - December 2006
6th Session March 2007 - December 2008
Party standings
Government
National Liberal Party Democratic Party (2004 - 2007) Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania Romanian Humanist Party (2004 - 2005) Conservative Party (2005 - 2007)
Opposition
Social Democratic Party Greater Romania Party Conservative Party (2007 - 2008) Democratic Party (2007) Democratic Liberal Party (2007 - 2008)
Senate
President of the Senate	Nicolae Văcăroiu 20 December 2004 - 14 October 2008 (Social Democratic Party) Ilie Sârbu 14 October 2008 - December 2008 (Social Democratic Party)
Senate Political Groups Leaders
Social Democratic Party	Ion Iliescu
National Liberal Party	Puiu Haşotti
Democratic Liberal Party	Petru Nicolae Ioţcu Constantin Gheorghe
Greater Romania Party	Gheorghe Funar Mihai Ungheanu
Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania	Attila Verestóy
Chamber of Deputies
President of the Chamber of Deputies	Adrian Năstase 20 December 2008 - 20 March 2006 (Social Democratic Party) Bogdan Olteanu 20 March 2006 - 15 November 2008 (National Liberal Party)
Chamber of Deputies Political Groups Leaders
Social Democratic Party	Miron Mitrea Viorel Hrebenciuc
Democratic Liberal Party	Cozmin Guşă Cristian Rădulescu
National Liberal Party	Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu Eugen Nicolăescu Crin Antonescu
Greater Romania Party	Lucian Bolcaş Ion Mînzînă Petre Popeangă Ioan Aurel Rus Octavian-Mircea Purceld
Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania	Atilla Kelemen Árpád Márton
Government
Tăriceanu II Cabinet minority Cabinet Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu 5 Apr. 2007 - 22 Dec. 2008
Tăriceanu I Cabinet coalition Cabinet Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu 29 Dec. 2004 - 5 Apr. 2007

In Romania's 2004 legislative election, held on November 28, no party won an outright majority. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) won the largest number of seats but was 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. The Conservative Party withdrew in December 2006, meaning that the government lost the majority.^[1] 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.^[2]

Senate

The President of the Senate for this legislature was Nicolae Văcăroiu, who was elected on December 20, 2004. Following his ad interim presidency of Romania, he delegated his attributions to the vicepresident Doru Ioan Tărăcilă. After Văcăroiu was sworn in as president of the Court of Accounts, Ilie Sârbu was elected as the new President of the Senate.

The table below gives the state of play before the 2008 election; parties in bold were part of the governing coalition at the end of this legislature.

Party		% of seats	Seats
	Social Democratic Party	31.4	43
	National Liberal Party	16	22
	Democratic Party	15.4	21
	Greater Romania Party	13.1	18
	Conservative Party	8.0	11
	Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania	7.3	10
	Independents	8.8	12
Total		100	137

Chamber of Deputies

During the 2004-2008 legislature, the president of the Chamber of Deputies was Bogdan Olteanu from the National Liberal Party, who was elected on March 20, 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 Social Democratic Party switched to other parties (including the governing Justice and Truth Alliance) or became independents, with the total number of Social Democratic Party 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 Social Democratic Party 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 at the end of this legislature.^[3] That coalition was tacitly supported by the PSD.^[4]

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

See also

• Parliament of Romania

References

1. Guvern minoritar (Minority government), Evenimentul Zilei, December 4, 2006 Archived October 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
2. "Romania's prime minister names new Cabinet of minority government", Associated Press (International Herald Tribune), April 2, 2007.
3. "source". Archived from the original on 2009-08-05. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
4. "Romanian election neck-and-neck". BBC News. 2008-12-01. Retrieved 2010-04-21.