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 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.
The Social Liberal Union was a grand coalition of several political parties which was active in Romania during the early to mid 2010s. The alliance contained two major political parties, one major centre-left and one centre-right, more specifically the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL), respectively.
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 People's Movement Party is an extra-parliamentary national-conservative and social conservative political party in Romania.
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.
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 2024 European Parliament election in Romania 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.
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.
A political crisis began on 1 September 2021 in Romania, engulfing both major coalition partners of the Cîțu Cabinet, namely the conservative-liberal National Liberal Party (PNL) and the progressive-liberal Save Romania Union (USR). The crisis also involved former prime minister Ludovic Orban (PNL), who was set to face Prime Minister Florin Cîțu (PNL) in a leadership election during the party congress on 25 September, with the latter eventually replacing the former. Orban would eventually resign from his position as President of the Chamber of Deputies, with him and his supporters subsequently splitting from the PNL, in order to form the Force of the Right (FD).
Local elections were held in Romania on 9 June 2024. They were the eighth post-1989 local elections in the country. The previous Romanian local elections in 2020 were won by the National Liberal Party (PNL), even though the Social Democratic Party (PSD) came in with significantly more County Council Presidents and mayors than the National Liberals.
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.
The 2020–2024 legislature of the Romanian Parliament is the current legislature of the Parliament of Romania, elected on 6 December 2020. In the said election, no party won an outright majority, but the Social Democratic Party (PSD) remained the largest political force in the parliament, in opposition however. The National Liberal Party (PNL), the Save Romania Union (USR), and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ) formed a coalition government. The USR ran within a political alliance it established with a smaller party, more specifically the Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (PLUS), which was eventually absorbed by the former. The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) entered parliament starting this legislature with an unexpected high score, gaining more popularity ever since.
In preparation for the next presidential elections in Romania, which took place on November 24 and second round who would have taken place on December 8, 2024, various polling companies and organizations in Romania have already conducted a series of opinion polls to measure and track voting intention among the electorate in assembly. The results of all these opinion polls are shown in the annual tables below in this Wikipedia article.
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.
