Parliamentary parties in Romania were expected to convene at the invitation of a Romanian pro-democracy group on Tuesday to defreeze talks on the introduction of a law that would see some form of an uninominal vote in legislative elections in the country. The talks come as on Wednesday debates are expected to take place in a parliamentary commission on changes to the electoral law. The debates were blocked by two opposition MPs last month.

The political parties are due to discuss a project by Romanian NGO the Pro Democratia Association (APD), a project that would introduce a form of uninominal votes supported by the governing Liberals (PNL) and their former government allies, the Democrats (PD).

The APD project proposes a mixture of uninominal votes and compensation votes. The latter would be redistributed based on party lists in so-called uninominal colleges if one party wins more than 50% plus one of the uninominal votes in the respective college.

The idea was opposed by Social Democratic (PSD, opposition) MPs who said the system would favor the PD, a party which has been greatly boosted by the popularity of its former leader, Romanian President Traian Basescu. PD was forced to leave the governing alliance with the Liberals at the peak of a political crisis this spring.

President Basescu has repeatedly warned that unless parliamentary parties find a compromise on the issue he would call for a referendum for the introduction of uninominal votes in Romanian elections.