Romania's political framework is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic where the Prime Minister is the head of government while the President represents the country internationally, signs some decrees, approves laws promulgated by parliament, and nominations as head of state. Romania has a multi-party system, with legislative power vested in the government and the two chambers of Parliament: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. From 1948 until 1989, the Communist rule political structure took place in the framework of a one-party socialist republic governed by the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) as its only legal party. Romania's 1991 constitution (amended in 2003) proclaims it a democratic and social republic, deriving its sovereignty from the people. According to the constitution, "Human dignity, civic rights and freedoms, the unhindered development of human personality, justice, and political pluralism are supreme and guaranteed values." The constitution provides for a President, a Parliament, a Constitutional Court, and a separate court system which includes the High Court of Cassation and Justice. The right to vote is granted to all citizens over 18 years of age. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Romania as a "flawed democracy" in 2016. Executive branch |President |Klaus Iohannis |Independent |21 December 2014 |- |Prime Minister |Nicolae Ciucă |National Liberal Party (PNL) |25 November 2021 |- |} The president is elected by popular vote for a maximum of two five-year terms (four-year terms until 2004). The president is head of state (charged with safeguarding the constitution, foreign affairs, and the proper functioning of public authority), supreme commander of the armed forces, and chairperson of the Supreme Council of National Defense. According to the constitution, the president acts as a mediator among the state's power centers and between the state and society. The president nominates the prime minister after consultation with the party holding an absolute majority in Parliament or, if there is no such majority, with all the parties in Parliament. Ambiguity in the Constitution of Romania (Article 85 (1), Article 103 (1)) may lead to situations where a coalition of parties obtaining an absolute majority in Parliament, or a party holding a relative majority in Parliament, would be unable to nominate a prime minister because the president would refuse the nomination (with no party holding an absolute majority in Parliament). According to Article 103 (1), "unless no such majority exists", is interpreted by