At stake in this Referendum:

• Whether to make Parliament unicameral and whether to reduce its size from 471 to 300 members. This is a nonbinding referendum.

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Traian BASESCU *
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Emil BOC
• Assembly: Romania has a bicameral Parliament (Parlament) consisting of the Senate (Senat) with 137 seats* and the Chamber of Deputies (Camera Deputatilor) with 315 seats**.

* Presidential elections take place under a two-round majority runoff system.

* Seats are distributed nationwide to parties in proportion to their vote shares, provided they have met a 5 percent threshold. This occurs after seats have been allocated to winners in single-member constituencies. A candidate must obtain an absolute majority of votes to win in any single-member constituency.

** As in the Senate, seats are allocated nationwide in proportion to parties' vote shares. This occurs after seats have been allocated to candidates winning majorities in single-seat constituencies. Various national thresholds apply: 5 percent for single parties (or at least 6 Chamber seats, or at least 3 Senate seats); 8 percent for alliances of two parties; 9 percent for alliances of three, and 10 percent for alliances of four or more parties.

There is no fixed number of reserve seats. These go to members of recognized minority groups (one per group) who do not win representation otherwise in either chamber. Such a candidate must have received 10 percent of the average number of valid votes cast for Deputies in the single-seat constituencies.

Main provisions in the Referendum:

• Whether the Parliament should be unicameral.
• Whether the Parliament should be reduced to 300 members.

Electoral Requirements

• A majority of registered voters must turn out.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 20,367,487 (2009)
• Registered Voters: 18,293,277 (November 2009)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 10,466,552 (2009)

·         Is Romania a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (4 September 1980)

·         Has Romania ratified CEDAW: Yes (7 January 1982)

·         Gender Quota: No (there are some political parties that have adopted voluntary quotas)

·         Female candidates in this election: N/A

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 38 (House of Deputies); 8 (Senate) following the 2008 elections

·         Human Development Index Position: 52 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Low (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Romania a signatory to CRPD: Yes (26 September 2007)

·         Has Romania ratified CRPD: Yes (31 January 2011)

·         Population with a disability: 3,055,123 (est.)