Romania's political framework is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic where the Prime Minister is the head of government while the President, according to the constitution, has 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 a democratic, multi-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. 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.
After the Communist rulership ended and the former Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu was executed in the midst of the bloody Romanian Revolution of December 1989, the National Salvation Front (FSN) seized power, led by Ion Iliescu. The FSN transformed itself into a massive political party in short time and overwhelmingly won the general election of May 1990, with Iliescu as president. These first months of 1990 were marked by violent protests and counter-protests, involving most notably the tremendously violent and brutal coal miners of the Jiu Valley which were called by Iliescu himself and the FSN to crush peaceful protesters in the University Square in Bucharest.
Theodor Dumitru Stolojan is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from September 1991 to November 1992. An economist by training, he was also one of the presidents of the National Liberal Party (PNL) before being the founding leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) and then the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL). He was a Member of the European Parliament for Romania, representing the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) and then the National Liberal Party. He was also professor at the Transilvania University of Brașov between 2002 and 2012.
The National Liberal Party is a social-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.
This article gives an overview of liberalism and radicalism in Romania. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in this scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it is not necessary for a party to have actually labeled itself as a liberal party.
Traian Băsescu is a Romanian conservative politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, and as Mayor of Bucharest from 2000 to 2004. Additionally, he was elected as leader of the Democratic Party (PD) in 2001.
The Democratic Party was a social democratic and, later on, liberal conservative political party in Romania. In January 2008, it merged with the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD), a splinter group of the National Liberal Party (PNL), to form the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL).
The National Salvation Front was the most important political organization formed during the Romanian Revolution in December 1989, which became the governing body of Romania in the first weeks after the collapse of the totalitarian communist regime. It subsequently became a political party, the largest post-communist party, and won the 1990 election with 66% of the national vote, under the leadership of then-President Ion Iliescu, who was elected with 85% of the vote.
Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu is a Romanian historian, politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania in 2012. He was the foreign minister of Romania from 28 December 2004 to 12 March 2007, and he was appointed as Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service later in 2007. Following the resignation of the Emil Boc government he was appointed Prime Minister serving through April 2012 when his cabinet was dismissed following a parliamentary vote of no-confidence. He was confirmed by the Parliament for a second term as Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, after President Klaus Iohannis nominated him in June 2015 but he resigned in September 2016, citing health issues.
Emil Boc is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 22 December 2008 until 6 February 2012 and is the current Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, the largest city of Transylvania, where he was first elected in July 2004. Boc was also the president of the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), which proposed and supported him as Prime Minister in late 2008, from December 2004 until July 2012.
Parliamentary elections were held in Romania on 30 November 2008. The Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) won three more seats than PSD in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, although the alliance headed by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) won more votes and a fractionally higher vote share. The two parties subsequently formed a governing coalition with Emil Boc of the PDL as Prime Minister.
Presidential elections were held in Romania in 2009. They were the sixth presidential elections held in post-1989 Romania. The first round took place on 22 November, with a run-off round between the top two candidates Traian Băsescu and Mircea Geoană on 6 December 2009. Although most exit polls suggested a victory for Geoană in the runoff, the authorities declared Băsescu the narrow winner with 50.33% of the votes. To date, it is the closest presidential election in the political history of Romania.
The Liberal Democratic Party was a political party in Romania, formed in December 2006 as a breakaway/splinter group from the National Liberal Party (PNL). The Liberal Democratic Party was headed by Theodor Stolojan, a former PNL leader, and included a series of prominent former National Liberals, such as Gheorghe Flutur, Mona Muscă, and Valeriu Stoica, who were opposed to the leadership of the PNL, then headed by former Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu.
Cătălin Marian Predoiu is a Romanian lawyer who served as the ad interim Prime Minister of Romania from 12 June to 15 June 2023, following the resignation of Nicolae Ciucă, having previously served from 6 February to 9 February 2012, following the resignation of Emil Boc. He had previously been the Minister of Justice of Romania since 29 February 2008.
The Vasile Cabinet was the 113th cabinet of Romania, which was formed 17 April 1998 and dissolved 22 December 1999, with Radu Vasile as head of government. It was a coalition cabinet formed between the winner of the elections, CDR, USD, and UDMR.
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 Fourth Ponta Cabinet was the government of Romania from 17 December 2014 to 17 November 2015. The Cabinet was supported by the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), the alliance forged by Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu's Liberal Reformist Party (PLR) and Daniel Constantin's Conservative Party (PC). Fourteen of the ministerial portfolios were held by PSD members, three by ALDE, two by UNPR and two by independent members.
European Parliament elections were held in Romania on 26 May 2019.
