Editing Politics of Romania (section)

== Executive branch ==

[[File:Ilie Bolojan official portrait (cropped).jpg|thumb|200px|[[Ilie Bolojan]], acting President of Romania since 12 February 2025]]

{{office-table}}
|[[President of Romania|President]]
|[[Ilie Bolojan]]
|Independent<br />{{small|Supported by: <br />[[National Liberal Party (Romania)|National Liberal Party]] (PNL)}}
|12 February 2025
|-
|[[Prime Minister of Romania|Prime Minister]]
|[[Marcel Ciolacu]]
|[[Social Democratic Party (Romania)|Social Democratic Party]] (PSD)
|15 June 2023
|-
|}

The president is elected by popular vote for a maximum of two five-year terms (four-year terms until 2004). The president is head of state (charged with safeguarding the constitution, foreign affairs, and the proper functioning of public authority), supreme commander of the [[Romanian Armed Forces|armed forces]], and chairperson of the [[Supreme Council of National Defence (Romania)|Supreme Council of National Defense]]. According to the constitution, the president acts as a mediator among the state's power centers and between the state and society. The president nominates the [[Prime Minister of Romania|prime minister]] after consultation with the party holding an absolute majority in [[Parliament of Romania|Parliament]] or, if there is no such majority, with all the parties in Parliament.

Ambiguity in the [[Constitution of Romania]] (Article 85 (1), Article 103 (1))<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cdep.ro/pls/dic/site.page?id=339|title=CONSTITUTIA ROMÂNIEI|access-date=10 June 2015|archive-date=9 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209134452/http://www.cdep.ro/pls/dic/site.page?id=339|url-status=dead}}</ref> may lead to situations where a coalition of parties obtaining an absolute majority in Parliament, or a party holding a [[Plurality (voting)|relative majority]] in Parliament, would be unable to nominate a prime minister because the president would refuse the nomination (with no party holding an absolute majority in Parliament). According to Article 103 (1), "unless no such majority exists", is interpreted by the president as "unless no such party exists" (although an absolute majority may be formed by one party, a coalition of parties, or an alliance).

In the 2008 parliamentary elections,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.becparlamentare2008.ro/rezul/part_tara_100.pdf|title=Archived copy|access-date=14 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171004184136/http://www.becparlamentare2008.ro/rezul/part_tara_100.pdf|archive-date=4 October 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> the [[Alliance PSD+PC]] won 33.09 percent of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 34.16 percent of the seats in the Senate. The [[National Liberal Party (Romania)|PNL]] won 18.57 percent of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 18.74 percent of the seats in the Senate, giving both parties a majority in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. However, the president nominated a member of the [[Democratic Liberal Party (Romania)|PDL]] (which won less than 32.36 percent of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 33.54 percent of the seats in the Senate. The nominated prime minister chooses the other members of the government, and the government and its program must be confirmed by a vote of confidence from Parliament.