# From 3 to 100: who gets to start a political party?

> From 3 to 100: who gets to start a political party?

On 21 August 2026, Romania's Permanent Electoral Authority put a draft law out for public consultation. It would raise the minimum number of founders from 3 to 100 and move the first review from Bucharest Tribunal to five-member AEP panels. For now, today's rule remains in place; the draft can still change or be withdrawn. Source S1

**Status:** PROPOSAL IN CONSULTATION · 21 AUGUST 2026.

## A number needs its unit.

A hundred looks easy to compare with 3, 500 or 2,000. Parties do not enter public life through the same door. Some figures count founders. Others count members, signatures or votes. Put them in one line and you get apparent precision with the wrong answer.

| Number | Unit | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | founding members | Romania · current rule |
| 100 | founding members | AEP draft · proposed |
| 100 | adult citizens | Croatia · founding |
| 200,000 | signatures | Romania · presidential candidacy |

## The threshold has not moved in a straight line.

In less than two decades, Romania moved from 25,000 founders to 3. AEP now proposes 100. Between those numbers sits the Constitutional Court's 2015 decision, which left the choice of threshold to the legislature and drew a limit: the burden must be justified as proportionate. Source S3

- **1996 · 10,000**: Law no. 27/1996: 15 counties, with at least 300 founders in each [S6](#source-S6)
- **2003 · 25,000**: Law no. 14/2003: 18 counties and Bucharest, with at least 700 in each [S3](#source-S3)
- **2015 · Court**: Decision no. 75: The Court found the old threshold excessive and disproportionate [S3](#source-S3)
- **2015 · 3**: Law no. 114/2015: A party can start with three founding members [S4](#source-S4)
- **2026 · 100?**: AEP draft: A proposed threshold and a new first reviewer [S1](#source-S1)

> The Court did not make three a constitutional number. It required any threshold that makes freedom of association harder to pass a proportionality test.

## A party passes through more than one gate.

Starting a party answers one question: does the state recognise it? Then come the ballot, seats and public money. Each stage has its own threshold and its own decision-maker. Open a gate and see what it measures.

### 01 · Legal existence

This is where the number that started the debate sits. The current law starts with at least three founding members. The AEP draft asks for 100 and moves the first review from Bucharest Tribunal to five-member AEP panels. A challenge would go to the Bucharest Court of Appeal. Source S5 Source S1

**What the number counts:** founding members

**Comparison:** Romania: 3 now · 100 proposed · Croatia: 100 adults

### 02 · Ballot access

A party's birth and a candidate's entry into an election are different moments. In parliamentary elections, Romania requires 5% nationally or 20% in each of at least four constituencies. For the presidency, a candidate must bring 200,000 support signatures. Source S7 Source S8

**What this gate measures:** votes, percentages and signatures

**Comparison:** A registered party does not automatically reach the ballot.

### 03 · Seats

Here, votes have to become seats. An organisation can exist legally and enter a contest without passing the threshold that produces representation. The founding number tells us about the party's beginning. An election result tells us about the support it has gathered. Source S7 Source S10

**What is measured:** votes and the rule that turns them into seats

**Comparison:** A party's birth and its representation are measured separately.

### 04 · Public money

Subsidies follow a different logic. Romania's Law no. 334/2006 links them to votes and seats. The money question comes after the party exists and competes. A founding threshold cannot answer it on its own. Source S9

**What is measured:** votes, seats and funding rules

**Comparison:** A founding threshold is not a subsidy criterion.

## Countries put the threshold in different places.

The rows below align only the starting gate, where the sources describe it clearly. The "unit" column matters as much as the number. Source S10

| System | At the start | Unit | Who checks | What to keep separate |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Romania · now | At least 3 | founding members | Bucharest Tribunal | Today's rule; elections have their own thresholds. [S5](#source-S5) |
| Romania · AEP draft | 100 | eligible founding members; Romanian citizens with voting rights; representation of both sexes | AEP, through five-member panels; challenge at the Bucharest Court of Appeal | Proposal. The text is not law. [S1](#source-S1) |
| Croatia | 100 | adult Croatian citizens with legal capacity | Ministry of Justice | The number matches. The conditions and institution differ. [S12](#source-S12) |
| Germany | No special numerical threshold | founding under the association framework; the Party Act sets no number | Association framework; election notification is a separate stage | Birth without a numerical threshold does not remove electoral rules. [S13](#source-S13) |
| Greece | At least 200 | citizens with voting rights signing the statute or founding declaration | Prosecutor at the Areios Pagos, where the declaration is filed | Founding threshold. Electoral stages are separate. [S19](#source-S19) |
| Bulgaria | 500 + 2,500 | 500 founders; at least 2,500 members | Sofia City Court | Founding, maintaining membership and collecting election signatures are separate stages. [S15](#source-S15) [S18](#source-S18) |
| Lithuania | 2,000 | members; lists are monitored over time | Ministry of Justice and Register of Legal Entities | The register also checks membership over time. [S16](#source-S16) |

> **Greece requires 200 signatories:** In Greece, a party's statute or founding declaration must be signed by at least 200 citizens with voting rights and filed with the prosecutor at the Areios Pagos. The law says the party acquires legal personality on founding. The OSCE/ODIHR report uses a broader category and places Greece among countries without special registration requirements compared with associations. The apparent contradiction comes from the scale of the comparison: the report describes the general regime, while Greek law sets a concrete founding threshold. See Article 29 of the Greek law. See the OSCE/ODIHR comparison.

## When the number changes, so does who holds the key.

Today, the first door is opened by a court. The draft puts the file on AEP's desk, where five panel members would examine it. A challenge would go to the Bucharest Court of Appeal. The threshold and the institution applying it arrive together.

- **What problem is the threshold meant to solve?** Are you trying to stop family parties, clone organisations or the use of public benefits? The threshold should show what problem it solves and why it fits.
- **Why 100?** Foreign comparison helps when the numbers measure the same stage and the same category of people. Otherwise, it gives context, not justification.
- **Why registration?** If the concern is ballot access or public money, why place the burden at the first gate? A more precise threshold may belong where the problem appears.
- **What stays open to opposition?** Public criteria, written reasons, clear time limits, conflict-of-interest rules and judicial review that can repair a bad decision.

> **The test the Court left behind:** The Court accepted that the state may ask for evidence of representativeness. It also drew a line: the burden cannot become excessive, disproportionate or unnecessary in a democratic society. So 100 has to answer four questions. What problem does it solve? Why this number? Why at this gate? What remedy remains?

## The question that remains

**Before asking how large the threshold is, ask which gate it guards.**

1. Number
2. Unit
3. Gate
4. Decision-maker
5. Remedy

A threshold deserves judgment alongside the problem it is meant to solve and the burden it places on pluralism. In the AEP draft, 100 arrives with a new registration procedure and sits before electoral tests that already exist.

The draft is in public consultation. The publicly reported timetable announces a debate on 27 August and comments until 20 September 2026. Read the reported timetable.

## Where the numbers come from

The reference date is 21 August 2026. The AEP text is a proposal in consultation. This comparison puts the same stage side by side where the sources allow it and keeps the rest separate. When a number cannot be checked against another number in the same category, the page says so.

### How I made the comparison

- I started with Romanian legal texts and official sources for the countries compared.
- I kept founders, members, signatures, votes and seats separate. One score would have hidden the differences.
- When two figures appear for one country, I kept both and marked the missing stage.

### Source register

- **S1 · Draft Political Parties Law** (primary document): The text AEP published for consultation. [Open source](https://www.roaep.ro/legislatie/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/PROIECT-LPP-v04.08.pdf)
- **S2 · Document: AEP proposes a new Political Parties Law** (documentary source): The public summary and the reported timetable for debate and comments. [Open source](https://www.ordinea.ro/document-aep-propune-o-noua-lege-a-partidelor-politice-inregistrarea-si-registrele-ar-urma-sa-fie-digitalizate/)
- **S3 · Constitutional Court, Decision no. 75/2015** (case law): The 25,000-founder rule and the Court's reasoning on proportionality. [Open source](https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/167290)
- **S4 · Law no. 114/2015** (statute): The law that lowered the threshold to at least three founders. [Open source](https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/168114)
- **S5 · Law no. 14/2003, consolidated text** (statute): The current rule in Article 19(3): at least three founding members. [Open source](https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/167390)
- **S6 · Law no. 27/1996** (statute): The 1996 rule: 10,000 founders from at least 15 counties, at least 300 in each. [Open source](https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/8073)
- **S7 · Law no. 208/2015** (statute): The thresholds for entering Parliament. [Open source](https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/222887)
- **S8 · Law no. 370/2004** (statute): The rule for presidential candidacies: 200,000 supporters. [Open source](https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/82024)
- **S9 · Law no. 334/2006** (statute): The criteria for subsidies linked to votes and seats. [Open source](https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/168091)
- **S10 · OSCE/ODIHR, Opinion on Montenegro's Law on Political Parties** (comparative opinion): Comparative passage on registration thresholds. Greece appears among countries without special requirements compared with associations; its national rule must be read separately. [Open source](https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/b/e/593492.pdf)
- **S11 · OSCE/ODIHR, Guidelines on Political Party Regulation** (standards guide): Calls for thresholds that are reasonable, justified and compatible with pluralism. [Open source](https://odihr.osce.org/odihr/538473)
- **S12 · Croatia Ministry of Justice, party register** (official source): The founding rule: at least 100 adult Croatian citizens. [Open source](https://mpudt.gov.hr/print.aspx?id=22212&url=print)
- **S13 · German Federal Returning Officer, founding a political party** (official source): The official guidance and Party Act set no special numerical minimum. [Open source](https://bundeswahlleiterin.de/en/parteien/parteigruendung.html)
- **S14 · Hellenic Parliament, Constitution of Greece, Article 29** (constitutional text): Protects the right of citizens with voting rights to found and join political parties. [Open source](https://www.hellenicparliament.gr/UserFiles/ebooks/ekdoseis/2019_THE-CONSTITUTION-OF-GREECE/index.html)
- **S15 · Bulgaria Central Election Commission, Political Parties Act** (statute): The rules for founders, members and the party register. [Open source](https://www.cik.bg/upload/84664/Political_Parties_Act.pdf)
- **S16 · Lithuania Ministry of Justice, political organisations** (official source): The 2,000-member rule and membership checks over time. [Open source](https://tm.lrv.lt/en/fields-of-activity/establishment-and-registration-of-political-parties/)
- **S17 · Telex, AEP proposal and reported comparison** (secondary source): Reports the figures used in the comparison around the AEP draft. It is a secondary source, used with the warning on this page. [Open source](https://telex.md/2026/08/21/schimbari-de-amploare-pentru-partidele-din-romania-ce-prevede-proiectul-de-lege-propus-de-aep/)
- **S18 · Bulgaria Central Election Commission, Decision no. 4438-NS** (official election act): Shows that election signatures are a stage separate from party formation. [Open source](https://www.cik.bg/bg/decisions/4438/2026-02-19)
- **S19 · Hellenic Parliament, Law no. 3023/2002, Article 29** (statute): Requires the statute or founding declaration to be signed by at least 200 citizens with voting rights and filed with the prosecutor at the Areios Pagos. [Open source](https://www.hellenicparliament.gr/UserFiles/f3c70a23-7696-49db-9148-f24dce6a27c8/3023_code.pdf)

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Conceived and edited by Marius Comper. Checked on 21 August 2026 · the proposal may change during consultation.