PANDEMIC SIDE-EFFECTS OR SAME OLD ELECTORAL APATHY? THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 CRISIS ON THE 2020 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN ROMANIA

Abstract

The year 2020 was an electoral year in Romania, with local and parliamentary elections being held in September and December. In the midst of the pandemic crisis, with new rules to be followed, both during the electoral campaign and at the polls, none of the two electoral moments seemed to be visibly influenced by the sudden changes of the social context. Neither the turnout, nor the main electoral themes saw much change compared to previous elections. This paper seeks to analyze the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the 2020 parliamentary elections in Romania, with an emphasis on the electoral turnout and the legislative changes that the pandemic has provoked and that contributed to maintaining parliamentary instability and fragmentation. Yet rather than being Covid-related complications, the fragmentation of the political right, the inability of the political left to form a majority despite winning the elections, the flaws of the electoral law, the apathy of the voters were all a by-product of the same old dysfunctions that haunt the Romanian political system. In this sense, we can argue that the pandemic continued to enable them further.