Romania's political framework is a semi-presidential representative republic where the Prime Minister is the head of government while the President, according to the Constitution, has at least in theory a more symbolic role, is responsible for the foreign policy, signs certain decrees, approves laws promulgated by the parliament, and nominates the head of government. Romania has multi-party system with a dominant two-party system, with legislative power vested in the government and the two chambers of the Parliament, more specifically the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature in theory. From 1948 until 1989, the communist rule political structure took place in the framework of a one-party socialist republic governed by the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) as its only legal party.
The Social Democratic Party is the largest political party in Romania. It is also the largest social democratic political party in the country. It was founded by Ion Iliescu, Romania's first democratically elected president at the 1990 Romanian general election. It is currently part of the National Coalition for Romania (CNR), which is a big tent grand coalition comprising also the National Liberal Party (PNL). The CNR formerly included the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ) until mid June 2023.
The National Liberal Party is a Christian democratic and socially conservative political party in Romania. Re-founded in mid January 1990, shortly after the Revolution of 1989 which culminated in the fall of communism in Romania, it claims the legacy of the major political party of the same name, active between 1875 and 1947 in the Kingdom of Romania. Based on this historical legacy, it often presents itself as the first formally constituted political party in the country and the oldest of its kind from the family of European liberal parties as well.
The Conservative Party was a conservative political party in Romania. It was founded in 1991, approximately two years after the fall of Communism in Romania, originally under the name Romanian Humanist Party. From 2005 until 3 December 2006, the party was a junior member of the Government of Romania. The party adopted the name Conservative Party on 7 May 2005. Subsequently, a little bit more than a decade after, more specifically in June 2015, it merged with the Liberal Reformist Party (PLR) to form the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE).
The Democratic Liberal Party was a liberal-conservative political party in Romania. The party was formed on 15 December 2007, when the Democratic Party (PD) merged with the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD). On 17 November 2014 the PDL officially merged into the National Liberal Party (PNL), ceasing to exist. The PDL was associated with Traian Băsescu, who was previously leader of the PD and President of Romania from 2004 to 2014.
Nicușor Dan is a Romanian activist, mathematician, former member of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania as well as founder and former leader of the Romanian political party Save Romania Union (USR). He is currently serving as the Mayor of Bucharest following his successful re-election campaign in the 2024 Romanian local elections as an independent politician.
Parliamentary elections were held in Romania on 11 December 2016. They were the first held under a new electoral system adopted in 2015, which saw a return to the proportional electoral system last used in the 2004 elections. The new electoral legislation provides a norm of representation for deputies of 73,000 inhabitants and 168,000 inhabitants for senators, which decreased the number of MPs.
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats was a minor nominally liberal political party in Romania which was officially absorbed in its entirety by the National Liberal Party (PNL), from which it initially seceded in 2015, during late March 2022. Throughout its relatively short political history, it was mostly associated with the Social Democratic Party (PSD) at governance, firstly between 2014 and 2015 and the once more for the last time between 2017 and 2019.
Clotilde Marie Brigitte Armand is a French-born Romanian politician and businesswoman. Between October 2020 and November 2024, she was Mayor of Bucharest's Sector 1.
The Save Romania Union is a liberal political party in Romania that sits on the centre to centre-right of the political spectrum. It is currently the third largest party in the Parliament of Romania with 41 deputies and 20 senators, and fifth at the local level nationwide, after the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ) and the People's Movement Party (PMP), two smaller centre-right political parties in the country.
Parliamentary elections were held in Romania on 6 December 2020 to elect the 136 members of the Senate and the 330 constituent members of the Chamber of Deputies.
European Parliament elections were held in Romania on 26 May 2019.
The Party of Liberty, Unity and Solidarity was a pro-European, liberal political party established on 26 October 2018, whose president was Dacian Cioloș, former Prime Minister of Romania from 2015 until 2017, elected on 26 January 2019. The party had its origin in the Movement Romania Together (MRÎ), a project which they gave up due to the setting up delay in court. The party merged in 2021 with the Save Romania Union (USR) with which it has been in a political alliance called 2020 USR-PLUS Alliance from 2019 to 2021, then formally activating as a sole, unified party known as USR PLUS.
The 2024 European Parliament election in Romanian was held on 9 June 2024. This was the fifth European Parliament election to be held in Romania since the country's accession to the European Union in 2007 and the first since Brexit.
USR PLUS was a Romanian progressive, liberal, and centrist political alliance active between 2019 and 2021. Established on 2 February 2019 solely as an electoral alliance between the political parties Save Romania Union (USR) and the Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (PLUS) it was initially called 2020 USR-PLUS Alliance. The alliance was formed to participate together in the May 2019 European Parliament election in Romania.
Local elections were held in Romania on 27 September 2020. Initially planned for June 2020, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic led the Government of Romania to postpone the elections to a date no later than 31 December 2020, and extending all the terms of the local offices due to expire on 5 June 2020.
The Social Liberal Humanist Party, formerly Humanist Power Party (Social-Liberal) is a centrist political party in Romania. It was founded in 2015 by members of the Conservative Party (PC) who did not want to merge with the Liberal Reformist Party (PLR), led by Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu.
Parliamentary elections were held in Romania on 1 December 2024. No party won a majority in the election, which saw the incumbent National Coalition for Romania, led by the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party (PNL), lose their majority in both chambers of parliament alongside significant gains by far-right parties such as the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), S.O.S. Romania, and the Party of Young People (POT). Following the elections, a pro-European grand coalition government was formed between the PSD, the PNL, and the UDMR, with the support of the national minorities. On 23 December, Ciolacu’s second cabinet was inaugurated by a slim margin, with 240 votes out of 465 in favour.
Force of the Right, sometimes translated as Right's Force or Right Force, is a liberal-conservative political party in Romania founded in December 2021 by Ludovic Orban, former National Liberal Party (PNL) president and former Prime Minister of Romania between 2019 and 2020, in opposition to the current leadership of the PNL which is currently officially led by Nicolae Ciucă and unofficially by Klaus Iohannis.
United Right Alliance was a centre-right electoral alliance that was formed to compete in the 2024 Romanian parliamentary election. It opposed the incumbent National Coalition for Romania (CNR) government.
