Can There Be Democracy without Participation? On Electoral Absenteeism and the Chronic Crisis of Representation in Romania

This article examines how electoral absenteeism impacts the quality of political representation in Romania, by referring to a series of recent developments in the party system and the accompanying governmental instability that has become entrenched over the years. The analysis covers the two most recent rounds of parliamentary elections in Romania, from 2016 and 2020, which registered the lowest voter turnout in the democratic history of the country, in the three decades since the fall of the communist regime. The main findings show that absenteeism, which is rooted in Romanian voters’ behavior (at least where the parliamentary elections are concerned) directly influences the emergence and the electoral success of new political actors, some of more radical orientations, while at the same time contributing to government instability. The intensification of this trend further affects the overall quality of the Romanian insufficiently consolidated democracy, maintaining and deepening the lack of trust of the citizens in politicians and political institutions. If not reversed in the years to come, this trend will no longer be seen as just an inevitable backsliding in a post-transition system, but as a feature of the Romanian democracy, to which both voters and representatives have grown complacent

Absenteeism · Democracy · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics · European Union Policy and Governance · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Psychology · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Social Psychology