Great National Assembly

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Great National Assembly (Romanian: Marea Adunare Naţională; MAN) was the legislature of the People's Republic of Romania and the Socialist Republic of Romania. When Communism was overthrown in Romania in December 1989, the National Assembly was replaced by a bicameral parliament, made up of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

The Great National Assembly was elected every four years and and each of its members represented 60,000 citizens. Despite of this, the Assembly was merely a façade which helped perpetuating the illusion of democracy.^[1]

[edit] Powers

Its role is given by article 43 of the 1965 Constitution of Romania and it includes 24 powers, which range from changing the constitution to the naming and deposing of the Supreme Commander of the Romanian Army. The resolutions required a simple majority to be passed through.^[1]

The Assembly convened twice a year for ordinary sessions and for extraordinary sessions as many times as required by the Council of State or by at least one third of the members of the Assembly. It elected its own chairmen and four deputies to preside each session.^[1]

Formally, the MAN gained in power over time: the 1948 Constitution (article 39) grants it just eight powers;^[2] the 1952 Constitution (article 24), 10.^[3]

[edit] 1980 elections

According to the official results of the March 9, 1980 election, which elected 369 deputies, 99.99% of the registered voters cast their votes. Of them, 98.52% voted for the official candidates, 1.48% voted against and just 44 votes were declared invalid.^[1]

192 seats of the Assembly were occupied by women and 47 seats belonged to national minorities (mainly Hungarians and Germans).^[1]