"THE LOCAL PARTY - A TOOL FOR THE MANIFESTATION OF CITIZENS’ POLITICAL WILL AT TERRITORIAL LEVEL"

Abstract

"In a democratic regime, political parties are relevant actors in the constitutional architecture, undergoing both a constitutional and a legal regulation. The Constitutional Court goes further and, in its jurisprudence , considers political parties as the main actors in constitutional life. The emergence of parties materializes the fundamental right of association and they are intended to define and express the political will of citizens. The Constitution qualifies pluralism, in general, and political pluralism, in particular, as a condition and guarantee of constitutional democracy. Political pluralism is seen in the doctrine as “a fundamental element of the process of conquering and exercising of power, of social leadership”. Political pluralism is also a supreme value, an essential value of society, guaranteed by the constitutional text in Article 1 paragraph 3 and Article 152, thus being intangible . The legislative changes from 2015 allowed the appearance on the Romanian political scene of several local parties, together with the national ones, established either at level of locality or at county level. "