The Senate and Chamber of Deputies rejected President Traian Basescu’s request with 191 votes in favor, 123 against, and 69 abstentions.
The Parliament’s decision is only consultative and a national referendum may be held regardless.
Basescu has called for a new referendum on the organization of the country’s Parliament after the parliamentary committee working on a Constitution revision draft refused to observe the results of a previous referendum, held in 2009, where Romanians voted to cap the number of lawmakers to 300 and make the parliament single-chamber. Romania’s current legislature has nearly 600 lawmakers.