- Corruption, Deficiencies of the Party System, Authoritarianism -.
Not quite two years before local elections, one and a half years before parliamen-tary elections and two years before presidential elections, Romania seems to be standing at a crossroads. Thus, the ruling post-communists, the Romanian Social Democrats (PSD) of prime-minister and PSD party leader Adrian Nastase have to decide on how to continue the required political, social and economic transforma-tion process. Can they afford social unrest due to required reforms of the eco-nomic and social system just one year before local elections, which in turn would lead to the country's accession to the European Union on January 1, 2007? Or should they keep delaying the reform process, thus making sure that the PSD gets reelected? 13 years since the downfall of communism, Romania is faced with yet another question, that of whether or not the country has undergone a socializa-tion process comparable to the other former Eastern bloc states. Does the Roma-nian population show any interest whatsoever in taking an active part in the fu-ture political, social and economic development of the country? Or do Romanians put up with the corruption, excessive red-tapism and week, politically controlled judiciary dominating the circumstances surrounding their lives and obstructing sustainable economic development as a god-given plight? .
According to the Constitution of 1991 which is still in force, joint parliamentary and presidential elections should be held at the end of next year. The debates on the amendment of the Constitution which have been going on for slightly over one year now seem to turn in favor of having these two elections at separate dates, stance backed by both civil society and parties across the Romanian political stage. Early summer 2005 is under consideration as a possible date for the next parliamentary elec-tions.
