6 GROSARU v. ROMANIA JUDGMENT Article 66 “1. For the purposes of allocation of seats to candidates on the lists, only parties, political groupings and coalitions having secured at least 3% of the validly cast votes at national level shall be taken into account. Seats in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate shall be allocated separately. 2. Seats shall be allocated once the Central Electoral Office has notified the names of the parties, political groupings or coalitions having secured at least 3% of the validly cast votes at national level. Seats in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate shall be allocated separately. 3. Seats in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate shall be distributed and allocated in two stages: at constituency level and at national level. 4. At constituency level, the electoral office shall determine the constituency electoral coefficient, separately for the Chamber of Deputies and for the Senate, by dividing the total number of votes validly cast for all the lists of the parties, political groupings and coalitions satisfying the criterion referred to in paragraph 1 and for independent candidates by the number of deputies or, as applicable, senators, to be elected in that constituency; each list shall be allocated as many seats as the number of validly cast votes for that list divided by the electoral coefficient of the constituency. The constituency electoral office shall allocate seats in the order in which the candidates appear on the list; one seat shall be allocated to each independent candidate having obtained a number of validly cast votes at least equal to the electoral coefficient for deputies or, as applicable, senators. The constituency electoral office shall inform the Central Electoral Office, with a view to their centralised distribution, of the list of remaining votes (unused or fewer than the electoral coefficient) secured by the lists of parties, political groupings and coalitions satisfying the criterion referred to in paragraph 1 and of any seats that have not been allocated. 5. For each party, political grouping or coalition satisfying the criterion referred to in paragraph 1, the Central Electoral Office shall add up, at national level, separately for the Chamber of Deputies and for the Senate, the total number of any unused votes or votes below the constituency electoral coefficient of all constituencies. The number of votes thus obtained by each party, political grouping or coalition shall be divided by 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., in line with the number of unallocated seats at constituency level; the quotients resulting from the division, irrespective of the list from which they come, shall be ranked in descending order up to the number of unallocated seats; the lowest quotient shall constitute the national electoral coefficient for deputies or, as applicable, senators. Each party, political grouping or coalition shall be allocated as many seats in the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate as the total number of validly cast votes, unused and lower than the constituency coefficient that it has obtained at national level divided by the electoral coefficient fixed at national level. 6. The Central Electoral Office shall determine the distribution of seats by constituency. ...”