Local elections were held in Romania on 27 September 2020.[1] Initially planned for June 2020, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic led the Government of Romania to postpone the elections to a date no later than 31 December 2020, and extending all the terms of the local offices due to expire on 5 June 2020.
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The aforementioned decision was deemed unconstitutional, and, in the end, a law was passed that extended the terms of the local officials up to 30 November 2020, and allowed the elections to be called by the Parliament, rather than by the Government, no later than that day. On 8 July 2020, the Parliament of Romania adopted a law setting the date of the elections on 27 September 2020.[2]
Rules
Using a first past the post system, the following offices will be contested:[3]
- All commune, town, and city councils (Local Councils, Romanian: Consilii Locale), and the Sectors Local Councils of Bucharest (Romanian: Consilii Locale de Sector)
- The 41 County Councils (Romanian: Consilii Județene), and the Bucharest Municipal General Council (Romanian: Consiliul General Al Municipiului București)
- The 41 Presidents of the County Councils (Romanian: Președinții Consiliilor Județene)
- All mayors (Romanian: Primării)
- Of the communes, cities, and municipalities
- Of the Sectors of Bucharest (Romanian: Primării de Sector)
- The General Mayor of The Municipality of Bucharest (Romanian: Primarul General al Municipiului București)
Polls
| Date | Poll source | Sample size | PSD | PNL | USR | PLUS | UDMR | ALDE | PMP | PRO | Other | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Aug–4 Sep 2020 | CURS | 1,067 | 26% | 33% | 16% | 4% | 4% | 5% | 7% | 5% | 7% | |
| 1–7 May 2020 | BCS | 1,545 | 25.3% | 32.7% | 19.8% | 5.9% | 1.7% | 5.3% | 5.2% | 4% | 7.4% | |
| 11–15 April 2020 | BCS | 1,008 | 25.8% | 34% | 16.5% | 4.2% | 2.1% | 6% | 5.8% | 5.7% | 8.2% | |
Exit polls
Bucharest
| Date[A] | Poll source | Gabriela Firea (PSD) | Nicușor Dan (PNL-USR-PLUS)[B] | Traian Băsescu (PMP) | Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu (ALDE) | Others | Lead | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Sep, 19:30 | CURS-Avangarde | 39% | 47.2% | 8.6% | 1.6% | 3.6% | 8.2% | ||
| 27 Sep, 21:00 | CURS-Avangarde | 38.2% | 47.8% | 9.4% | 1.6% | 3% | 9.6% | ||
| 27 Sep | Sociopol | 44% | 45% | 7% | — | 4% | 1% | ||
- Notes
Constanța
| Date | Poll source | Decebal Făgădău (PSD) | Vergil Chițac (PNL) | Stelian Ion (USR-PLUS) | Mircea Titus Dobre (PRO Romania) | Claudiu Palaz (PMP) | Horia Constantinescu (PPU-SL) | Corina Martin (PER) | Victor Cruceanu (ALDE) | Anton Traian Antoniadis (The Hellenic Union[a]) | Others | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Sep, 19:30 | CURS-Avangarde | 23.5% | 29% | 29% | 1.7% | 2.9% | 3.5% | 3.5% | 1.3% | 1.1% | 4.5% | |
| 27 Sep, 21:00 | CURS-Avangarde | 22.8% | 28.5% | 28.5% | 1.7% | 3.1% | 3.6% | 3.6% | 1.3% | 1.3% | 5.6% | |
Results
| Party | Mayor of Bucharest (PGMB) | Mayors (P) | Local Councils seats (CL) | County Councils seats (CJ) | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | ||||||||
| National Liberal Party (Romanian: Partidul Național Liberal - PNL) | 282,631 (USR PLUS) | 42.81% (USR PLUS) | 1 | 2,578,820 | 34.58% | 1,232 | 2,420,413 | 32.88% | 14,182 | 2,212,904 | 30.76% | 474 | |||||||
| Social Democratic Party (Romanian: Partidul Social Democrat - PSD) | 250,690 | 37.97% | 0 | 2,262,791 | 30.34% | 1,362 | 2,090,777 | 28.40% | 13,820 | 1,605,721 | 22.32% | 362 | |||||||
| USR PLUS (Romanian: Alianța 2020 USR PLUS - USR PLUS) | 282,631 (PNL) | 42.81% (PNL) | 1 | 490,362 | 6.58% | 28 | 504,563 | 6.85% | 1,207 | 478,659 | 6.65% | 65 | |||||||
| People's Movement Party (Romanian: Partidul Mișcarea Populară - PMP) | 72,556 | 10.99% | 0 | 353,005 | 4.73% | 50 | 420,791 | 5.72% | 2,137 | 423,147 | 5.88% | 67 | |||||||
| PRO Romania (Romanian: PRO România - PRO RO) | 5,315 | 0.80% | 0 | 331,878 | 4.45% | 36 | 381,535 | 5.18% | 1,885 | 356,030 | 4.95% | 56 | |||||||
| Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (Romanian: Uniunea Democrată Maghiară din România - UDMR/RMDSZ) | - | - | - | 299,334 | 4.01% | 199 | 362,442 | 4.92% | 2,360 | 379,924 | 5.28% | 92 | |||||||
| Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (Romanian: Alianța Liberalilor și Democraților - ALDE) | 9,892 | 1.49% | 0 | 124,649 | 1.67% | 15 | 189,665 | 2.58% | 861 | 209,411 | 2.91% | 15 | |||||||
| Other political parties, independent contenders, and local alliances | 39,034 | 5.91% | 0 | 1,140,903 | 15.30% | 282 | 1,086,907 | 14.76% | 3,448 | 1,528,189 | 21.24% | 209 | |||||||
| Total: | 660,118 | 100 | 1 | 7,457,093 | 100 | 3,176 | 7,361,818 | 100 | 39,900 | 7,193,985 | 100 | 1,340 | |||||||
| Notes | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sources: Romanian Permanent Electoral Authority | |||||||||||||||||||
Deaths
The former PMP mayor of Sadova, Eugen Safta, who had just gotten re-elected, suffered a heart attack and died. His death was declared on 28 September 2020, at 2 AM EEST.[4]
Ion Aliman, the PSD mayor of Deveselu, was re-elected for a third term,[5] despite having had died of COVID-19 10 days earlier.[6] He received 1,020 votes, out of a total of 1,600. Until a term of partial elections will be held, the vice mayor will have acting mayor attributions.[5]
Electoral maps
Map depicting the county council presidents and mayors of the county seat cities/towns (Romanian: Oraș reședință de județ) according to the colour of the winning party
Map depicting the localities according to the colour of the elected mayor
Map depicting the overall winning party by electoral unit
