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Abstract
This article explores the influence that state finance has had on the Romanian party system by examining the entry and exit of parties throughout the period of 1990 – 2004 and focusing on the number of parties that gained representation in the parliament as well as the party incumbency rate. I find that state finance has had a limited influence on the party system as a whole but has been influential for specific parties. I argue that the influence of state finance partly depends on when the system was introduced. In developing party systems, the influence of state finance on individual parties is more differential.
Notes
1The Laakso and Taagepera effective number of parties index has been widely used in the literature. It is based on the idea that determining the number of parties should be based on their relative strength. The formula for the effective number of parties is: N=1/Σp i 2 where p i 2 is the fractional share of the ith component, in case the share of parliamentary seats) (Laakso & Taagepera Citation1979, p. 13).
2 Monitorul Oficial al României, 18 March 1990.
3Carothers argues that few, if any, opposition parties actually received the state subvention (Citation1992, p. 86).
4 Monitorul Oficial al României, 30 December 1989.
5This number does not include ethnic minority parties which were guaranteed a seat in the lower house. Of the ethnic-based parties, only the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania and the German Democratic Forum received enough votes to win an outright seat.
6The bill stipulated, however, that 85% of the finance was reserved for parliamentary parties.
7Significantly, there was no change to the party registration requirement of 251 members.
8The law made a distinction between pre-nomination and post-nomination broadcast time. After the nominating period, a new allotment of time was issued in proportion to the number of candidate lists a party had throughout the country. If parties did not have lists in at least 10 constituencies (there are 41 constituencies and the city of Bucharest) they forfeited their right to broadcast time (Monitorul Oficial al României, 15 July 1992, p. 68).
9Each party had to designate a specific fiscal agent that registered with the Ministry of Economics and Finance.
10Interestingly, the number of parties represented in the upper house, Senate, actually increased from seven to eight.
11Although only seven parties won seats, 65 parties participated in the election for the Chamber of Deputies in 1992.
12Contributions received by a party cannot be in excess of 0.005% of the country's budget revenues. In an election year, however, the amount is doubled. The sum of the dues paid over the period of one year by a single person cannot exceed the equivalent of 50 minimum salaries. A total yearly contribution made by an individual cannot exceed 100 minimum salaries, and a total yearly contribution made by a corporation cannot exceed 500 minimum salaries.
13Unless there are early elections, parliamentary elections occur every four years.
14The incumbency rate for the 2004 election is a reflection of the new coalitions which emerged before the election. The actual retention rate of parties was higher than 50%, but these parties were now part of new coalitions (often with new parties or groups).