Romanian Politics Explained

Since the bloody revolution of December 1989, Romania has been parliamentary democracy (of sorts).

The Head of State is the President (currently Traian Basescu, who has been in office since 2004; reelected 2009) elected for five year terms. The president may serve no more than two terms of office.

Executive power is held however by the government, led by the prime minister (currently Emil Boc), who has been in post (as the head of three different governments) since December 2008.

The country's next parliamentary elections are set for December 2012. MPs are elected via a bizarre electoral system that in the 2008 general election saw candidates finishing third or fourth in a constituency actually taking the seat in parliament.

Romania's main political parties are:


PD-L (Democratic Liberals)

Nominally centre-right the PD-L was formed in 2007 when the PD (Democratic Party) fused with the PLD (Liberal Democrats), a splinter group of the PNL (see below).

Though officially led by Prime Minister Little Emil Boc, the party is in effect the plaything of president Traian Basescu (who as Head of State is offically required to stay out of party politics). The PD-L currently gets around 32 per cent of the country's support in opinion polls. The PD-L currently governs with the support of the UDMR (see below), and the tiny UNPR.


PSD (Social Democrats)

Successor party of the Romanian Communists (PCR), the PSD long ago shed its communist baggage, though many of its members remain unapologetic old socialists.

The party is led by former foreign minister Mircea Geona and polls around 25 per cent.


PNL (Liberal Party)

A centre-right party which until 2008 shared office with the UDMR (Hungarian nationalists) in a minority government. Led by the agreeably young and dynamic Crin Antonescu, it now polls around 20 per cent. 

Note: the PSD and PNL will contest the next parliamentary election (at the end of 2012) on a single ticket. Their alliance is known as the USL (Social-Liberal Alliance).


UDMR (Hungarian Nationalists)

The UDMR supports the interests of Romania's large (two million-plus) Hungarian minority and has been a member of (almost) every Romanian government since 1996.


Minority Parties

Once a potential ruling party, the PRM (Greater Romania Party) is now a shadow of its former self. Seen as a relic of Romania's past much of its support has fled to the more youthful PNG. Its leader is Vadim Tudor, a court poet during the Ceausescu years and fierce nationalist. It currently has no seats in the Romanian parliament, though Vadim sits in the European Parliament.

Other parties include the UNPR, which was formed by a small group who broke away from the PSD and the PP-DD (Popular Party Dan Diaconescu), formed by a television presenter (Dan Diaconescu) popular with older Romanians.  

Our Editor's blog, Bucharest Life, regularly covers  Romanian politics.