The Senate Senatul
6th Legislature
Type
Type	Upper house
Leadership
President	Mircea Geoană, Social Democratic Party since 19 December 2008
Vicepresidents	Crin Antonescu (PNL) Anca Boagiu (PD-L) Alexandru Pereş (PD-L) Dan Voiculescu (PSD+PC) since December 2008
Secretaries	David Gheorghe (PD-L) Onofrei Orest (PD-L) Popa Cornel (PNL) Silistru Doina (PSD+PC) since December 2008
Quaestors	Ioan Chelaru (PSD+PC) Constantin Dumitru (PD-L) Dan-Radu Ruşanu (PNL) Attila Verestóy (UDMR) since December 2008
Structure
Members	137
Political groups	PD-L (51)      PSD + PC (48 + 1)      PNL (28)      UDMR (9)
Committees	15 - The Committee for legal affairs, appointments, discipline, immunities and validations; - Committee on Budget, finance, banking and capital market; - The commission for economy, industry and services; Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development; - The Committee on Foreign Affairs; Committee on public administration, the territory and environmental protection; - The Commission for defense, public order and national security; - Commission for work, family and social protection; Committee for Education, Science, Youth and Sports; - Committee on Public Health; Committee for culture, art and media information in the table; - Commission on Human Rights, religious and minority; The Committee on Equal Opportunities; - Commission for privatization and management of state assets; - Committee on research abuses, corruption and petitions;
Election
Voting system	1992 - 2008: Closed list, D'Hondt method since 2008: nominal vote, Mixed member proportional representation
Last election	30 November 2008
Meeting place
Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest
Website
www.senat.ro

The Senate of Romania (Romanian: Senat) is the upper house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 137 seats (as of November 28, 2004), to which members are elected by direct popular vote, using Mixed member proportional representation in 42 electoral districts (the 41 counties plus the city of Bucharest), to serve four-year terms.

After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the Senate was housed in "Palatul Senatului", located in Revolution Square. That U-shaped structure was built from 1938 to 1941 under engineer Emil Prager's coordination, following the plans of architect Emil Nădejde. It housed the Council of Ministers and from 1958 to 1989 it was the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party. During the Revolution, Romanian President Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife Elena fled by helicopter from the roof of the building. In 2005 Senators moved into the Palace of the Parliament, joining their colleagues from the Chamber of Deputies. "Palatul Senatului" now houses offices of the Ministry of Administration and Interior.

[edit] Composition

[edit] 2008-present

In December 2008, the Democratic Liberal Party and the Alliance of the Social Democratic Party and Conservative Party formed a coalition government (highlighted in bold in the table below).

[edit] 2004-2008

In the Romanian legislative election, 2004, held on November 28, 2004, the Justice and Truth Alliance won the greatest number of seats, even though no party won an outright majority. 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.

Until April 2007, the Justice and Truth Alliance governed in coalition with other minor parties. In April 2007, after the break-up of the Justice and Truth Alliance, the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Hungarians formed a minority government coalition (highlighted in bold in the table below).

Romania

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Romania

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[edit] 2000-2004

Elections to the Senate were held on November 26, 2000, in which the Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSD) won an overall majority. Then President of the Senate of Romania was Nicolae Văcăroiu, who was elected in December, 2000. The allocation of seats was as follows:

Party	' % of seats'	seats
PSD	46.43	65
PRM	26.43	37
PNL	9.29	13
PD	9.29	13
UDMR	8.57	12
Others	0.00	0

[edit] Presidents of the Senate

Former Senate headquarters, now headquarters of the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform

The Standing Bureau of the Senate consists of the President of the Senate, four vice-presidents, four secretaries, and four quaestors. The President of the Standing Bureau also serves as the President of the Senate. The President is elected, by secret ballot, for the duration of the legislative period.^[1]

[edit] References

1. ^ Pagina oficiala a Senatului României

[edit] External links

• Official web site of the Senate of Romania

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