The House of Representatives, which consists of 343 members and the Senate with 143 members are elected by universal, equal and direct suffrage and by secret and free ballot for four years. The representatives and senators are elected in the constituencies by votes cast on lists and independent candidates, on the basis of the proportional representation system. Every Romanian citizen over 18 prior to the election day has got an active right to vote. The precondition for passive suffrage is being over 23 years of age in the case of the House of Representatives and over 35 for the Senate. Elections are conducted by the election offices, at the national level the central election office summarises the results and defines what political parties and alliances did not exceed the election threshold. After that the mandates for the senators and representatives are distributed in two phases - first on the level of county constituencies and then on the national level.