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.
Dan Mircea Geoană is a Romanian politician and diplomat,who served as the deputy secretary general of NATO between 2019 and 2024. He previously served as president of the Senate of Romania from December 2008 until he was revoked in November 2011. From April 2005 until February 2010,he was the head of the Social Democratic Party.
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.
Dan Stoenescu is a Romanian career diplomat,political scientist and journalist. He was a minister in the technocratic government of Prime Minister Dacian Cioloș.
Ilie Sârbu is a Romanian theologian,economist and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD),he sat in the Romanian Senate from 2004 to 2015,representing TimișCounty. In the Adrian Năstase cabinet,he was Agriculture Minister from 2000 until July 2004,and he held the same position in the Emil Boc cabinet between 2008 and 2009. He was Senate President for six weeks in 2008.
Liviu Nicolae Dragnea is a Romanian engineer and former politician. Starting his career in the Democratic Party (PD),he joined the Social Democratic Party (PSD),eventually becoming its leader. After holding several positions as Minister,he resigned from the cabinet in May 2015,following a conviction in a case involving electoral fraud,for which he received a two-year suspended sentence in April 2016.
Cristian Diaconescu is a Romanian jurist and politician. He previously belonged to the National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD),as well as to the People's Movement Party (PMP),which he led from 2021 to 2022. He sat in the Romanian Senate from 2004 to 2012,representing Constanța County from 2004 until 2008,and subsequently Bucharest. In the Adrian Năstase cabinet,he was Minister of Justice from March to December 2004;in the Emil Boc cabinet,he was Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2008 and 2009. He returned to the position in 2012,also under Boc,and continued in this capacity under Boc's successor,Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu.
Ecaterina Andronescu is a Romanian engineer,professor,and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD),she sat in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies from 1996 to 2008,representing Bucharest,and was a Senator from 2008 until 2020,for the same city. In the Adrian Năstase cabinet,she was Education Minister from 2000 until June 2003. She held the same position in the cabinet of Emil Boc from 2008 to 2009,in the Victor Ponta cabinet during 2012,and finally in the Viorica Dăncilăcabinet for under 9 months between November 2018 and August 2019. She is married and has one child.
The National Union for the Progress of Romania is a political party in Romania. The party was formed in March 2010 by independents who had broken away from the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL) to support President Traian Băsescu. Tension began soon after the party's formation between former PSD and PNL members over the distribution of leadership positions and the political direction of the new party,with former PSD members dominating. The first party congress to elect its leaders was on 1 May 2010.
Presidential elections were held in Romania in 2014. They were the seventh presidential elections held in post-1989 Romania. In the first round of the elections on 2 November,the top two of the fourteen candidates qualified in a run-off on 16 November. These candidates were Victor Ponta,former Prime Minister and ex-leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) who won around 40% of the vote in the first round,and Klaus Iohannis,then mayor of Sibiu and leader of the Christian Liberal Alliance (ACL),who won around 30% in the first round respectively. Following large protests on how Ponta's government organized the elections in the diaspora,Klaus Iohannis staged a surprising come-back and won the run-off with 54.5%,or more than a million votes than his contender.
Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă is a Romanian politician,former leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD),and was Prime Minister of Romania from 29 January 2018 to 4 November 2019. She is the first woman in Romanian history to hold both the office of Prime Minister and that of president of the PSD. In 2014,she was elected to a second term as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP),representing the PSD. She was also president of the Social Democratic Women's Organization (OFSD) between 2015 and 2018.
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.
PRO Romania is an extra-parliamentary social liberal political party in Romania.
Ion-Marcel Ciolacu is a Romanian politician who currently serves as the prime minister of Romania. He is the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) since 2019. As a previously little-known politician outside of Buzău County,where he owns a pastry shop and a consulting firm,Ciolacu came into national prominence when he became the deputy prime minister in 2018 in the cabinet of Prime Minister Mihai Tudose.
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 (PSD) 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.
Simona Bucura-Oprescu is a Romanian politician from the Social Democratic Party (PSD).
Gheorghe-Florin Cârciu is a Romanian politician of the Social Democratic Party who was elected member of the European Parliament in 2024. He served as state secretary at the Department for Romanians Abroad from 2022 to 2024.
