Requirements for EU citizens who wish to vote in municipal elections in Romania

EU citizens domiciled or residing in Romania are entitled to vote and to stand as candidates under the same conditions as Romanian citizens, subject to compliance with legal rules. They can vote only at the polling station to which their street or place of residence is assigned.

Records of EU citizens domiciled or residing in Romania are kept by the General Inspectorate for Immigration and will be entered on the permanent supplementary electoral rolls.

Supplementary electoral rolls are drawn up and kept up to date by the mayor, together with the territorial offices of the General Inspectorate for Immigration.

Supplementary electoral rolls must include the following: voter’s surname and first name, date and place of birth, Member State of origin, the address where they live in Romania, and number of the electoral area.

EU citizens are entitled to check the entries in the supplementary electoral rolls. To this end, mayors publish the place where such checks can be made and the timetable.

The mayor, together with the territorial offices of the General Inspectorate for Immigration, updates the supplementary electoral rolls no later than 23 days before the voting day.

Persons who have lost their electoral rights are removed from the supplementary electoral roll, pursuant to the communication sent by the court to the mayor, within 3 days of the date of the final court decision.

If EU citizens no longer meet the requirements for exercising the right to vote, as laid down in this law, or if they expressly request their removal from the electoral rolls, in a written request addressed to the mayor, and in case of death, they are removed by the mayor from the supplementary electoral rolls. In case of death, the removal of EU citizens from the supplementary electoral rolls is based on a communication made by the General Inspectorate for Immigration.

EU citizens with the right to vote, who are domiciled or reside in the electoral area where elections are held and are not listed in the records of the General Inspectorate for Immigration, are entered by the mayor, on request, on the supplementary electoral roll based on a document attesting to their identity and a proof of address. The request must be submitted within not more than 23 days before the election day.

Proof of address means one of the following documents:

• acts concluded under the conditions of validity laid down by the Romanian legislation in force, relating to the residence, such as a contract of sale, lease agreement or other;
• a written declaration from the host, who is either a natural person or a legal person, as acceptance in the premises, accompanied by one of the documents listed in point (a);
• a sworn declaration by the applicant, accompanied by a public order law enforcement officer’s endorsement note, attesting to the existence of a building and to the fact that the applicant actually lives at the declared address, for natural persons unable to submit the documents listed in points (a) and (b);
• a document issued by the mayor’s office, showing that the applicant is listed in the Agricultural Register, for rural areas.

EU citizens can exercise their right to vote on the basis of any valid document attesting to their identity.

On voting day, EU citizens who have been omitted from the supplementary electoral roll and who turn up to vote providing proof that they are domiciled or reside within the territorial area of the respective polling station – with any of the documents issued by the General Inspectorate for Immigration or with one of the documents attesting to their address in Romania – will be entered on the additional electoral roll by the chair of the polling station's electoral office.

EU citizens have the right to stand as candidates for election as mayor, local councillor, county councillor and county council president.

EU citizens may stand as candidates in the administrative-territorial unit where they are domiciled. Candidacy proposals are submitted under the same conditions as for Romanian citizens.

If the lists of candidates include EU citizens, the following mentions are added next to them: surname, first name, Member State of origin, place and date of birth, address where they live in Romania, occupation, profession and political membership and, in the case of alliances, the political or electoral alliance that proposed them.

For an EU citizen’s candidacy, the declaration of acceptance of candidacy includes surname, first name, Member State of origin, address in Romania, occupation, profession and political membership and express consent to stand as a candidate for the position concerned, and states that they meet the legal requirements to stand as a candidate. The declaration of acceptance of candidacy is accompanied by a document attesting to the candidate’s address in Romania or a document issued by the General Inspectorate for Immigration.

On submitting the candidacy, in addition to the documents required from Romanian citizens, EU citizens must submit a document proving their identity and a self-declaration stating the following:

• that they have not been deprived of the right to stand as a candidate in their Member State of origin under a final judgment in criminal or civil matters;
• that they do not hold positions in another EU Member State, equivalent to positions that are incompatible with the status of elected local official in Romania.

Requirements for EU citizens who wish to participate in European elections

In accordance with Law No 33/2007 on the organisation and conduct of elections to the European Parliament, republished, as subsequently amended and supplemented, any EU citizen domiciled or residing in Romania has the right to stand as a candidate in elections for the European Parliament.

Romanian citizens entered on the electoral rolls of other Member States cannot vote in the election of Romanian representatives for the European Parliament. They may vote only on the lists/candidates from the State concerned.

No later than 60 days before the reference day, citizens of Member States of the European Union, other than Romania, who have the right to vote and who are domiciled or reside in Romania may submit applications to be entered on the special electoral rolls. These applications must be submitted in writing to the mayor of the place of domicile or residence, accompanied by a copy of a valid identity document.

Special electoral rolls include the EU voter’s surname and first name, the EU voter’s citizenship and the address where the EU voter lives in Romania.

No later than 5 days before the reference day, the Permanent Electoral Authority sends the Electoral Office for Romanians Abroad the list of Romanian citizens exercising their right to vote in elections to the European Parliament from another EU Member State, as well as the list of EU voters entered on the special electoral rolls, which it sends, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the electoral offices of the polling stations abroad.

EU citizens, within the meaning of Article 17(1) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, as subsequently amended and supplemented, who reside or are domiciled in Romania, have the right to vote and to stand as candidates in elections to the European Parliament under the same conditions as Romanian citizens, subject to compliance with the requirements of Law No 33/2007 on the organisation and conduct of elections to the European Parliament, republished, as subsequently amended and supplemented.

• Voters vote at the polling stations to which they are assigned according to their domicile or residence.
• You can vote at any polling station and are entered on additional electoral rolls.
• If you are abroad on voting day, you may vote at any polling station organised abroad and are entered on the additional electoral rolls.
• EU voters who, on the reference day, wish to vote at a polling station other than that where they are entered on the copy of the special electoral roll, may vote only if the county or sector electoral office confirms that they have been entered on the special electoral rolls, when so requested by telephone by the chair of the polling station's electoral office.
• EU voters who are abroad on the reference day may vote to elect Romanian members of the European Parliament only if they are entered on the list drawn up by the Permanent Electoral Authority, which includes EU voters entered on the special electoral rolls.

You may vote with a valid identity card issued by the Romanian State, namely:

• identity card;
• provisional identity card;
• identity bulletin or diplomatic passport;
• electronic diplomatic passport;
• service passport;
• electronic service passport;
• ordinary passport, ordinary electronic passport;
• temporary ordinary passport;
• military service carnet (for students enrolled in military schools).

The chair of the polling station's electoral office may, following a written request by voters who cannot be transported for reasons of illness or invalidity, which must be submitted no later than on the day prior to the elections and accompanied by copies of medical or other official documents showing that the persons concerned cannot be transported, approve a team of at least two members of the electoral office to go to the voter’s location with a special ballot box and the voting material (a stamp marked ‘VOTED’ and the ballot papers) so that they can vote.

2024 elections

In anticipation of the elections that will take place in 2024, the Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP) has shared the following information with the public:

Citizens with the right to vote registered in the Electoral Register on March 31^st 2024: 18.965.288;

Of the total number of Romanian voters appearing in the Electoral Register, 18.020.261 have their domicile or residence in the country, and 945.027 have their domicile abroad and are CRDS passport holders;

Voters with domicile or residence in the country, valid on March 31^st 2024, by age category and according to environment (urban/rural):

• Total number of voters: 18.020.261;
• men: 8.692.814
• women: 9.327.447
• urban voters: 10.211.520
• voters in rural areas: 7.808.741

Voters with domicile or residence in the country, valid on March 31^st 2024, related to each locality - https://www.roaep.ro

• Total: 18.020.261

Romanian voters residing abroad, CRDS passport holders, structured by country - https://www.roaep.ro

• Total: 945.027