Twelve Jews in New Roumanian Parliament

There are 12 Jews in the new Parliament, six Senators, 4 Deputies belonging to the Jewish Party, one ex-officio representative of the Jewish Faith in the Senate, (Chief Rabbi Dr. Niemirover), and one Deputy of the Hungarian Minority Party, Deputy Nandor Hegedues, a total of seven Senators and five Deputies, as compared with 14 Jews in the last Parliament.

The Jewish Senators are Chief Rabbi Dr. Niemirover, Max Anschnitt, Wilhelm Dinermann, Dr. Asra Bercowitz, editor of the Bucharest French Liberal daily “Independence Roumaine” Iance Finkelstein, Isaac Benvenisti, and N. Rivensohn, and the Deputies are Dr. Mayer Ebner, Dr. Theodore Fischer, Dr. Joseph Fischer, Dr. Max Diamant, and Nandor Hegedues.

Under the Roumanian Constitution the Chamber possesses greater powers and more legislative authority than the Senate, yet it is in the Chamber that Jewish representation is weaker. In addition, the Jewish Senators are mostly Bucharest residents, who are therefore always at hand, while the Jewish Deputies all live far away in the new provinces where they also follow their professions, so that they can spend only little time in Bucharest. This is particularly so in the case of the Jewish Party, whose Deputies are all in the new provinces.

If the Jewish population in Roumania had voted unitedly for Jewish representatives in the Chamber and Senate, according to the proportion of Jews among the population there should have been 30 Jewish representatives in Parliament, since the Jews constitute five percent. of the total population. Altogether, there have been till now 43 Jews in the Roumanian Parliament. 26 are no longer in Parliament, five have died and 12 are members of the present Parliament.