Romanian Local Election, 2008

Romanian Local Election, 2008

Local elections were held in Romania on June 1, 2008, with a runoff for mayors on June 15, 2008.

On June 1 where elected:

• all the villages, communes, cities, and municipal cluncils (Local Councils, Romanian: Consilii Locale), and the Sectors Local Councils of Bucharest (Romanian: Consilii Locale de Sector)
• the 41 County Councils (Romanian: Consilii Judeţene), and the Bucharest Municipal General Council (Romanian: Consiliul General Al Municipiului Bucureşti).
• the 41 Presidents of the County Councils (Romanian: Preşedinţii Consiliilor Judeţene)
• all the mayors (Romanian: Primarii)
  • of the villages, cities, and municipalities
  • of the Sectors of Bucharest (Romanian: Primarii de Sector)
  • The General Mayor of The Municipality of Bucharest (Romanian: Primarul General al Municipiului Bucureşti)

On 17 April 2008, the Social Democratic Party and the Conservative Party announced they would form a political alliance for these elections. For the first time the presidents of the County Councils were elected directly by the people, and not by later negotiations inside the County Council; other notable characteristics included a substantial number of Roma candidates standing, as well as some representatives of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Turnout was low, with fewer than half of the eligible voters turning out to vote; in most big cities, except for Constanţa (incumbent PSD member Radu Ştefan Mazăre won) and Cluj-Napoca (incumbent Democratic Liberal Party member Emil Boc won), the election was not decided in the first round; in Bucharest, PDL member Vasile Blaga and independent Sorin Oprescu (former member of the PSD) will meet in the run-off.

Overall, both PD-L got 28.37%, PSD got 28.04%, PNL got 18.66%, and UDMR got 5,43% of the vote.