the president as "unless no such party exists" (although an absolute majority may be formed by one party, a coalition of parties, or an alliance). In the 2008 parliamentary elections, the Alliance PSD+PC won 33.09 percent of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 34.16 percent of the seats in the Senate. The PNL won 18.57 percent of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 18.74 percent of the seats in the Senate, giving both parties a majority in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. However, the president nominated a member of the PDL (which won less than 32.36 percent of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 33.54 percent of the seats in the Senate. The nominated prime minister chooses the other members of the government, and the government and its program must be confirmed by a vote of confidence from Parliament. Legislative branch |President of the Senate (ad interim/acting) |Alina Gorghiu |National Liberal Party (PNL) |29 June 2022 |- |President of the Chamber of Deputies |Marcel Ciolacu |Social Democratic Party (PSD) |23 November 2021 |} The national legislature is a bicameral parliament (), consisting of the Chamber of Deputies () and the Senate (). Members are elected to four-year terms by universal suffrage in a party-list proportional representation electoral system. Beginning in 2008, members are elected by mixed-member proportional representation. The number of senators and deputies has varied in each legislature, reflecting population changes. In 2008, there were 137 senatorial seats and 334 seats in the Chamber of Deputies; of the 334 deputy seats, 18 were held by ethnic minority representatives which would not meet the five-percent electoral threshold required for other parties and organizations. Classification of political parties Romania has a multiparty political system, which makes a majority government virtually impossible (unless a very high score is achieved in the legislative election by one particular political party). Smaller parliamentary parties have sometimes merged with larger ones during previous legislatures before 2020. Currently, there are five main parliamentary parties (excluding the 18 ethnic-minority parties which have one representative each) as follows: The main four non-parliamentary parties (the first two around the five-percent threshold) with local representatives are as follows: Unlike other former Soviet-bloc countries (such as, most notably, neighbouring Republic of Moldova), no political party claiming to be the successor of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) has been or is currently a significant player