In Romania, women have the right to vote on equal terms with men in all elections, both national and local, as well as in referenda and other polls.
Granting the right to vote to women was a process which started at the beginning of the XX th century, with Romanian Constitution 1923, which provided that “special laws, passed with a two third majority, will determine the conditions in which women may enjoy the exercise of political rights. Women’s civil rights will be established on the basis of full equality between two sexes”. 1 However, the Electoral Law 1926, which should have regulated such issue, made no reference to the women’s right to vote and, thus, despite the explicit proclamation contained by the Constitution 1923, women remained, de facto, without the right to vote in the national elections.2 By Local Public Administration Law 1929, women were granted the right to vote for the local councils of Romanian municipalities and counties.3 However, the exercise of such right was subject to certain conditions, among which a certain level of instruction, occupation (public servants), marital status (war widows) or civic activity (leadership of charitable or cultural associations.
The Romanian Constitution 1938, which replaced the Constitution 1923, took a step further and explicitly provided the right of vote for women in national elections, stipulating that “the electoral law shall establish […] the conditions required to vote, both for men and women […]”4 . In the application of the constitutional provisions, the Electoral Law 1939 provided that both men and women had the right to vote, provided that they were both literate and at least 30 years old.5 These conditions regarding the age and literacy, limited however the participation of women to vote and precluded full exercise of such right.
After World War II, the new Electoral Law 1946 provided equal rights of men and women to vote, starting with the age of 21.6 The new Constitution, issued two years later in 1948, proclaimed full equality between men and women, providing expressly that “all citizens, regardless of gender, nationality, race, religion, instruction, profession, including military, magistrates and public servants, have the right to elect and be elected in all the bodies of the State. All citizens of at least 18 years of age have the right to elect. […]”.7 The same principles were maintained in the subsequent Constitutions enacted during the communist regime, in 19528 and 19659 .
According to the currently in-force Romanian Constitution, enacted in 1991, the right to vote is guaranteed to all Romanian citizens, who turned 18 prior or on the election day, regardless of gender.10 Only mentally deficient or alienated persons, who are legally incapacitated, as well as persons convicted by final court decision to disenfranchisement of electoral rights are deprived of their right to vote.
- 1. Article 6 par. (2) of the Constitution 1923, published in the Official Gazette of Romania No. 282 dated 29 March 1923, available at http://www.cdep.ro/pls/legis/legis_pck.htp_act_text?idt=1517 (in Romanian).
- 2. Electoral Law 1926, published in the Official Gazette of Romania No. 71 dated 27 March 1926, not available online.
- 3. Law for the organization of local public administration, published in the Official Gazette of Romania No. 170 dated 3 August 1929, not available online.
- 4. Article 61 par. (3) of the Constitution 1938, published in the Official Gazette of Romania No. 48 dated 27 February 1938, available at http://www.cdep.ro/pls/legis/legis_pck.htp_act_text?idt=9206 (in Romanian).
- 5. Article 5 of the Law for the election of Chamber of Deputies and Senate, published in the Official Gazette of Romania No. 106bis dated 9 May 1939, not available online.
- 6. Law No. 560 regarding the elections for the Chamber of Deputies, published in the Official Gazette of Romania No. 161 dated 16 July 1946, not available online.
- 7. Article 18 of the Constitution 1948, published in the Official Gazette of Romania No. 87bis dated 13 April 1948, available at http://www.cdep.ro/pls/legis/legis_pck.htp_act_text?idt=1574 (in Romanian).
- 8. Articles 94-96 of the Constitution 1952, published in the Official Bulletin No. 1 dated 27 September 1952, available at http://www.cdep.ro/pls/legis/legis_pck.htp_act_text?idt=1454 (in Romanian).
- 9. Article 25 of the Constitution 1965, as republished in the Official Bulletin No. 65 dated 29 October 1986, available at http://www.cdep.ro/pls/legis/legis_pck.htp_act_text?idt=37735 (in Romanian).
- 10. Article 36 par. (1) of the Constitution 1991, as subsequently amended and supplemented, republished in the Official Gazette of Romania No. 767 dated 1 October 2003, available at http://www.cdep.ro/pls/dic/site.page?id=371 (in English).