The Romanian Parliamentary Elections 2024
This article was republished with permission from Eagle Eye Explore.
The political calendar in Romania for 2024 has been one of the busiest in recent years, with the local and European elections both taking place on the 9th June, and with the Presidential and Parliamentary elections both still yet to come.
The Presidential elections will take place over two rounds – on the 24th November and the 8th December, respectively – while the Parliamentary elections will take place on the 1st December. As of the writing of this article, the candidates for the Presidential elections are still yet to be confirmed, so we will instead be covering here the five main and currently highest-polling political parties that are running for the 1st December Parliamentary elections. Considering the importance of Romania geopolitically in the Balkans and the wider Eastern European region, this guide – while not exhaustive, due to the high number of registered political parties in Romania – will not only be of interest to the average Romanian voter, but should also be of interest to the foreign reader, especially those from countries bordering Romania – Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria.
In terms of specific issues which are among the most talked-about topics in Romania during the course of the election campaigning, the three that stand out the most currently are socio-cultural issues – such as LGBT rights and immigration – the levels of institutional corruption on a state level and the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, considering Romania’s membership of both the European Union and NATO, and Romania’s contributions towards military aid to Ukraine.
Social Democratic Party (Partidul Social Democrat, PSD)
The left-wing Social Democratic Party (PSD), led by Ion-Marcel Ciolacu, is currently the largest political party in Romania, holding 49 out of the 136 seats in the Romanian Senate, the upper house of the Parliament of Romania. The PSD is also one of two political parties – with the other being the National Liberal Party (PNL) – which make up the ruling coalition, known as the National Coalition of Romania (CNR). The coalition is also notable for giving Romania the two highest political positions in the country to individuals associated with each of the two member parties – the office of Prime Minister to Ion-Marcel Ciolacu of the PSD and the office of President to Klaus Iohannis, formerly of the PNL, but has been an independent since 2014.
Ideologically, the party is often labelled as centre-left, but many have noted the party’s tendency to embrace ideological elements from further to left and the right on the political spectrum, giving the party a more syncretic image. The extent to their alleged syncretic politics is debatable, but the PSD can indeed be classed as a left-wing party, owing to their adherence to social democracy/democratic socialism, while at the same time claiming to be in favour of more social conservative politics. This is reflective of Romania’s mostly conservative society in general. The PSD have also been labelled by some as left-wing populist or even left-wing nationalist, with some going as far as to accuse the party of having ethnic nationalists within their ranks. However, these claims seem to be aimed more at factions within the lower ranks of the party, as opposed to the more rigid social democrats of the upper ranks. The PSD is also pro-EU and pro-NATO, although the party had previously been soft Eurosceptic up until 2021.
According to Romanian political analyst Radu Magdin, the PSD can be regarded as a “catch-all party” – left-wing when it comes to social policies, liberal when it comes to economic policies and conservative when it comes to cultural policies. It has also been argued that the PSD have adopted this diverse stance in order to appeal to as wide an electorate as possible. While it can be argued on the one hand that this is a pragmatic policy of the party’s, on the other hand, it could also cause some confusion among those who may desire a more ideologically rigid and definitive party. Some other examples of the PSD’s policies are as follows – their calls for lower taxes and higher wages, their opposition to the EU’s mandatory migrant quotas and their opposition to same-sex marriage and same-sex civil partnerships. It has also been claimed that the PSD has strong connections with the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The PSD’s more conservative policies for a left-wing political party are not unusual in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. Unlike Western and Northern Europe, whose own left-wing parties are generally considered to be far less conservative in nature and more aligned with progressivist and socially liberal ideals, left-wing parties in the Balkans and Eastern Europe are left-wing primarily in the sense that many of their older members grew up in the days of communist rule, and are thus ideologically influenced by more socialist policies, which are, at the same time, mixed in with the traditionalist and social conservative nature of Balkan and Eastern European society and culture.
National Liberal Party (Partidul Național Liberal, PNL)
The second-largest political party in Romania – holding 36 out of 136 seats in the Senate – the centre-right National Liberal Party (PNL), led by Nicolae Ciucă, also claims to be the oldest political party in the country, claiming the legacy and serving as a continuation of a party of the same name that was established in 1875, becoming Romania’s first fully organised political party as a result. The PNL is also the party that the current President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, was formerly a member of, up until 2014.
The second of two parties that make up the ruling National Coalition of Romania (CNR), unlike the left-wing PSD, the PNL is ideologically centre-right. Unlike many other centre-right political parties in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, however – many of which lean more towards right-wing policies than centrist liberal ones – the PNL places its focus on the centrist liberal aspect of centre-right politics, referring to itself as liberal conservative. The party has also stressed that it prioritises a more liberal stance on matters of the economy and social issues. However, at the same time, the party has also advocated for more conservative policies on cultural and religious matters, aligning more with general social attitudes in Romania. An example would be the party’s more conservative stance on LGBT issues, opposing same-sex marriage and same-sex civil partnerships. Economically, the PNL is in favour of privatisation and denationalisation – a stance which has been criticised by many for being a factor resulting in many foreign companies buying out and owning domestic Romanian businesses. In terms of foreign policy, the PNL is pro-EU and pro-NATO.
Despite the party’s insistence that it holds liberal values – in conjunction with conservative ones – it has been claimed that factions of the PNL are far more conservative in nature, with some being outright accused of being nationalistic. Some have even accused the PNL of being statist, with others even comparing the party to the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), led by Aleksandar Vučić. Both the PNL and the SNS have been accused of being more nationalistic than simply conservative in nature, with media organisation Radio Free Europe even going so far as to claim that the PNL is “liberal only in the name”.
Alliance for the Union of Romanians (Alianța pentru Unirea Românilor, AUR)
A party that has only recently started enjoying some electoral success nationwide in Romania, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) is a right-wing nationalist party led by George Simion. A highly controversial party, AUR claims that it seeks to “unite all Romanians”, including the Romanian diaspora. This policy of unification extends territorially as well, for AUR officially advocates for the reunification of the Republic of Moldova with Romania, a longstanding desire not only among Romanian nationalists, but the majority of Romanians in general, regardless of political ideology.
In an attempt to appeal to a wider electorate, AUR has described itself as centre-right, Christian democratic and patriotic, whereas much of the general public and state media have accused the party of being neo-fascist, pro-Russian, anti-Hungarian and even anti-Semitic. Some have even outright accused the party of being ideologically sympathetic to the historical ultranationalist Iron Guard movement of the early 20th century, founded by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, one of the most well-known and influential nationalist figures in Romanian history. However, this accusation holds little to no weight, considering numerous ideological – as well as philosophical – differences between AUR and the Iron Guard. AUR have also previously espoused anti-vaccination rhetoric, and not exclusively referring to the COVID-19 vaccinations, but vaccines in general. Since the end of the COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccination programmes, however, AUR have emphasised that they support “freedom of choice”.
On social issues, AUR is, unsurprisingly, strongly conservative, citing four main pillars of Romanian society – family, nation, Christian faith, liberty. The party is also strongly opposed to gender ideology, instead promoting the strengthening of the traditional nuclear family in Romania. On religious matters, the party opposes state secularism and even condemns atheism, even going so far as to label its members “defenders of the [Romanian Orthodox] Church”. AUR takes a very sceptical approach when it comes to the issue of Hungarian minority rights in Romania. While inter-ethnic relations between Romanians and Hungarians are nowhere near as tense as, say, the relations between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo and the Preševo Valley region, an ongoing movement calling for autonomy for the Hungarians of Romania have turned many Romanians towards more right-wing parties, such as AUR, who themselves oppose any and all calls for granting autonomy to the Hungarians of Romania.
In terms of foreign policy, unlike many nationalist political parties, AUR is soft Eurosceptic – desiring a greater voice for Romania within the EU, but short of seeking a withdrawal from the bloc – and is pro-NATO. According to the party, Romania’s membership of NATO provides the country with greater security from external threats, and with the reunification of Moldova into Romania, will allow the alliance to strengthen its eastern flank, on the border with Ukraine, currently at war with Russia. Regarding the Russo-Ukrainian War, AUR is anti-interventionist, stating that the war has little to do with Romania. The party has also been vocally opposed to the transit of Ukrainian agricultural goods through Romania. As a result of these policies, AUR leader George Simion has been banned from entering Ukraine. However, AUR has also been vocally opposed to Russia, with the party leadership even calling for the expulsion of the Russian ambassador to Ukraine, as well as the closing down of all Russian consular and diplomatic missions to Romania, citing threats that Russian officials have posed to Romania, for their ongoing military support to Ukraine and the strengthening of NATO’s infrastructure in Romania and its maritime territory in the Black Sea. Regarding other countries, AUR have been accused of being sympathetic to Bashar al-Assad in Syria, while the party had also declared their strong support for Serbia over the issue of Kosovo. However, AUR is also vocally supportive of Israel in the ongoing Israel-Palestine and Israel-Lebanon wars.
Save Romania Union (Uniunea Salvați România, USR)
The Save Romania Union (USR), led by Elena Lasconi, is a somewhat unusual political party in that it is largely made up of individuals who have little to no previous experience in politics, and functions instead like a large NGO, with many of its high-ranking members being activists and academics, not career politicians. It has been argued that this is a significant factor in the party’s appeal to much of the Romanian electorate – especially younger voters – as the party also runs heavily on an anti-corruption platform, and have referred to career politicians as a significant source of corruption within Romania.
The USR labels itself as a centre-right party, however, due to the predominance of its liberal ideals over conservative ones, it would be more accurate to label them as a centrist liberal party. The primary conservative element of the USR is its approach to economic matters, on which the party takes a free-market capitalist approach. Regarding the LGBT community, however, for a liberal party, the USR is unusually silent on the matter, preferring to avoid revealing any real official stance on LGBT issues. Seemingly neither for nor against LGBT rights, the USR instead appears to take a more neutral – or perhaps ambivalent – stance. According to former USR party leader, Dan Barna, “Gay marriage is not yet a subject for the public agenda…There is no initiative promoting same-sex marriage. Maybe in 20, 30 years, next generations will take care of this problem, but for now, this is not a priority.”
In terms of foreign policy, while not explicit in its stance towards the subject matter of Moldovan reunification with Romania, the USR openly promotes the Moldovan liberal Party of Action & Solidarity, led by current Moldovan President Maia Sandu. The USR also strongly supports the accession of Moldova to the European Union. Regarding its own stance on Romania’s membership of the EU, the USR is strongly in favour of Romania’s continued membership of the bloc, and has also been very vocal on the matter of seeing the EU expand its power and influence, including the creation of more EU laws that would apply to all member states, as well as the creation of an EU armed forces.
SOS Romania
Another highly controversial political party that had only recently started seeing a significant rise in popularity in Romania is SOS Romania, led by the equally controversial Diana Șoșoacă. Arguably more radical and nationalistic than the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), SOS Romania has been labelled a far-right party, largely due to its strongly social and national conservative policies, as well as its stance on the expansion of Romania’s territory.
In terms of domestic policy, SOS Romania is highly critical of the current Romanian Government’s handling of social issues, such as the economy, healthcare and education, demanding significant reform to how these areas of Romanian society are managed, so that they can be improved to meet the modern standards of the 2020s. As is the case in the rest of the Balkans and Eastern Europe, much of Romania’s social infrastructure has not changed very much since the days of communism, with efforts at reform and modernisation resulting in little success, largely due to long-term financial issues. SOS Romania has also blamed state corruption for the lack of improvement to Romanian infrastructure in general. As with most right-wing and far-right political parties in Europe, SOS Romania is also strongly anti-immigration, both legal and illegal in nature.
In terms of foreign policy, SOS Romania is critical of NATO, but has also expressed desire to see the alliance reformed, with Romania continuing to be a member state. The party is also officially soft Eurosceptic and seek to reform the bloc from within. Unofficially, however, its leadership and members align more so with hard Euroscepticism, desiring to see Romania withdraw from the European Union entirely, as opposed to seeking to reform the bloc from within, as claimed on the party’s official website. The leader of SOS Romania, Diana Șoșoacă, even went as far as to state that the European Parliament needed to be “blessed and purified by a priest”. Although SOS Romania has also been accused of being a pro-Russian party by its critics, the party also claims that it is opposed to what it calls the “Russian and Chinese dictatorships”. However, SOS Romania has also been heavily criticised in Ukraine, due to the party’s ideological sympathies with the concept of Greater Romania, which include the former Romanian territories of Bessarabia (today the Republic of Moldova and the southern part of the Odessa region in Ukraine, including Snake Island) and Northern Bucovina, which is currently part of Ukraine. These regions were annexed by the Soviet Union following the USSR’s occupation of these territories in 1940. As a result of the party’s stance on these respective territories, Ukraine has imposed sanctions on the party leadership.
The leader of SOS Romania, Diana Șoșoacă, has played a significant role in the growth in popularity of the party over the past few years, primarily due to her extremely vocal and outspoken nature when it comes to Romanian affairs, both domestic and international. As a result, she has been embroiled in numerous controversies over the years, which have gained her both praise from her supporters and criticism from her opponents. For example, on the 21st November 2023, during a secret session in the Romanian Parliament regarding the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, Șoșoacă was heard screaming “Palestine” during the course of a presentation of on-the-ground footage of the situation in Gaza. However, Șoșoacă and SOS Romania do not officially endorse Romania playing a significant role in the ongoing conflict, instead wishing Romania to be neutral. Șoșoacă herself has stated that Hamas “does not represent the Palestinian people”, and that Israel, alongside Hamas, is committing numerous war crimes and human rights violations as well. Further antagonising Israel and the Jewish people, in May, during a session in the Romanian Parliament dedicated to Romania-Israel relations, Șoșoacă reportedly shouted, “Long live the Guard”, in reference to the historic Romanian ultranationalist Iron Guard movement, which was also known for its strongly anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Under orders from the Romanian Constitutional Court, Șoșoacă has been removed from the electoral list of candidates for the upcoming Presidential Election. According to Șoșoacă herself, the banning of her candidacy “proves the Americans, Jews and the European Union have plotted to rig the Romanian election before it has begun…”
What These Elections Mean for the Future of Romania
In light of the most major geopolitical events going on in the world today – namely the Russo-Ukrainian War, the Israel vs. Palestine and Lebanon wars and even the upcoming US Presidential Election, Romania continues to play a key role in European geopolitical affairs. Taking into consideration its geographical region in the Balkans and Eastern Europe – bordering Ukraine and the Black Sea – as well as being member states of both the European Union and NATO, although often overlooked by many European and world nations due to its socio-economic history, Romania’s political future will play a pivotal role in how significant the roles of the EU and NATO will be in the Balkans and Eastern Europe in the decade to come, and most likely even beyond that. Romania’s domestic economic, social and cultural situation will likely remain very much the same, considering the unchanged economic system in Romania since the early 2000s, as well as the highly conservative and traditionalist nature of Romanian society in general. For Romania’s neighbours, the future of Romania politically will very likely have a significant passive effect on them in turn, due to their membership and contribution to both the EU and NATO, as well as these two blocs’ respective foreign policies, which is why these upcoming elections, especially in these turbulent times, will be extremely important to observe indeed.