This article lists political parties in Romania.

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

has a democratic

multi-party system In political science, a multi-party system is a political system where more than two meaningfully-distinct political parties regularly run for office and win elections. Multi-party systems tend to be more common in countries using proportional ...

with numerous

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

, in which a political party does not often have the chance of gaining parliamentary majority alone, and, thus, parties must work with each other to form

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

s. The current system was established following the

Romanian Revolution The Romanian revolution () was a period of violent Civil disorder, civil unrest in Socialist Republic of Romania, Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around the world, primarily ...

of 1989 and the adoption of a new constitution in 1991; prior to these events, Romania was a single-party state under the rulership of the

Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ; PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave an ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that would replace the social system ...

(PCR). Since the early 1990s, Romanian politics saw a gradual decrease in the number of political parties entering the Parliament and a relative consolidation of existing ones along ideological lines. Major political parties can be roughly grouped into three main "families", more specifically

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

, or

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

. Extremist groups have a relatively low political profile in Romania, despite a surge in popularity of

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

and

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

political parties across many

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(EU) countries during the 2010s.

Party switching Party switching or party hopping is any change in political party affiliation of a partisan public figure, usually one currently holding election, elected office. Party switching occurs quite commonly in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Italy, Romania ...

() remains a very concerning and significant issue, however, as does widespread corruption, leading to an overall low level of public trust in political parties. In December 2014 the level of trust stood at 12%. To counter this perception, the two largest parties as of 2015 (namely the Social Democrats and the National Liberals) have allegedly initiated a series of internal reforms to strengthen their integrity criteria and impose disciplinary sanctions on party members investigated or convicted on corruption charges.

Legal framework

Article 40 of the Constitution of Romania states that citizens can freely associate into political parties, with the exception of judges, military, and police personnel as well as other civil servants which are apolitical by law. The same article bans political parties which campaign against political pluralism, the

rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...

, and Romania's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Romania's party system is regulated by Law no. 14/2003 on political parties; the law initially mandated a list of 25,000 supporters, residing in at least 18

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

and the Municipality of Bucharest, for a political party to be formally registered. Nevertheless, in February 2015, the unregistered Pirate Party of Romania () filed a complaint to the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

, arguing that the list requirement is a violation of the constitutional provisions on

freedom of association Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline membe ...

. The Court subsequently struck down the requirement as unconstitutional, and on 6 May 2015, the Romanian Parliament approved a modified version of the law, which allows the formation of a political party with 3 signatures.

Parties represented in Parliament

The current political parties with parliamentary representation, in the order of the total number of representatives they hold in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, are the following ones: In addition, ethnic minority organizations are granted each seat in the Chamber of Deputies if: (1) are the sole official representative organization of the minority; (2) they participate in the legislative election and do not pass the 5% threshold but obtain at least 10% of the number of votes calculated to correspond to electing one deputy. These seats are added to the number of seats put up for election. As of 2021, there are eighteen such seats. The Hungarian minority organization, the

Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR; , RMDSZ ; , UDMR) is a political party in Romania which aims to represent the significant Hungarian minority of Romania. Officially considering itself a federation of minority interests ra ...

(UDMR/RMDSZ) has always passed the 5% threshold for both houses of the Romanian Parliament, and has been treated as a regular political party (and acting like one as well).

Parties only represented in the European Parliament

Aside from the political parties represented in the Romanian Parliament, the following political parties only have representation in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

Minor parties

Ethnic minority organizations

Other parties

Defunct parties

Parties active 1859–1918

Parties active 1918−1947

The following parties were all active in Romania in the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

and, in some cases, through and after World War II. Dates of founding and dissolution are given, where known. Failing that, the earliest and latest dates known for activities are given. This period saw the proliferation of numerous extremist parties inspired by

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and

Communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

. The latter were effectively banned in 1924 by the so-called Mârzescu law. A succession of coups drastically altered the political landscape as Romania went through a single-party dictatorship under the

National Renaissance Front The National Renaissance Front (, FRN; also translated as ''Front of National Regeneration'', ''Front of National Rebirth'', ''Front of National Resurrection'', or ''Front of National Renaissance'') was a Romanian political party created by King Ca ...

(1938–1940), then a military dictatorship without political parties (1940–1944), then briefly returning to multiparty democracy before finally becoming a people's republic (1944–1947).

Communist-era parties (1947–1989)

Although distinct parties in the

communist era A communist era is a sustained period of national government by a single party following the philosophy of Marxism–Leninism. Many countries have experienced such a period of communist rule. Current communist states China The Chinese Communist ...

were not politically relevant, the following were the officially recognized political forces: Other parties were allowed to exist, with unclear status, until mid 1948.Frunză, p.357

Post−1989 parties

Notes

References

''110 ani de social-democrație în România'' ("110 Years of Social Democracy in Romania")

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, Ovidiu Șincai Social Democratic Institute, Bucharest, July 9, 2003 *Ion Constantinescu, "Dr. N. Lupu: «Dacă și d-ta ai fi fost bătut...»" ("Dr. N. Lupu: «If You Yourself Had Been Beaten...»"), in Magazin Istoric, August 1971 *Victor Frunză, ''Istoria stalinismului în România'' ("History of Stalinism in Romania"), Humanitas, Bucharest, 1990
Victoria Gabriela Gruber, Summary of ''Partidul Național Liberal (Gheorghe Brătianu)'' (PDF file)

in ''Erasmus'', 1997 * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070313170820/http://www.jurnalul.ro/articol.php?id=1905 Paula Mihailov, "Dubla criză a 'României profunde'" ("The Double Crisis of 'Profound Romania'") in ''

Jurnalul Național ''Jurnalul Național'' is a Romanian newspaper, part of the INTACT Media Group led by Dan Voiculescu, which also includes the popular television station Antena 1. The newspaper was launched in 1993. Its headquarters is in Bucharest Buchares ...

'', July 12, 2005 *Vasile Niculae, Ion Ilincioiu, Stelian Neagoe, ''Doctrina țărănistă în România. Antologie de texte'' ("Peasant Doctrine in Romania. Collected Texts"), Editura Noua Alternativă, Social Theory Institute of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its bylaws, the academy's ma ...

, Bucharest, 1994 *

Z. Ornea Zigu Ornea (; born Zigu Orenstein Andrei Vasilescu"La ceas aniversar – Cornel Popa la 75 de ani: 'Am refuzat numeroase demnități pentru a rămâne credincios logicii și filosofiei analitice.' ", in Revista de Filosofie Analitică', Vol. II, N ...

, Introduction and chronological table to

George Panu George Panu (March 9, 1848 – November 6, 1910) was a Moldavian, later Romanian memoirist, literary critic, journalist and politician. A native of Iași, educated there as well as in Paris and Brussels, he worked as a schoolteacher and lawyer, b ...

, ''Amintiri de la "Junimea" din Iași'' ("Recollections from the Iași ''Junimea''"), Ed. Minerva, Bucharest, 1998
Petre Otu, "1946-1947. Se pregătește guvernul Argetoianu!" ("1946-1948. An Argetoianu Government Is Under Preparation!")
in ''Magazin Istoric'', May 2000 *Ioan Scurtu, ''Viața Politică din România 1918–1914'' ("Political Life in Romania 1918–1914"), Editura Albatros, Bucharest, 1982 *M. Ștefan, "În umbra Cortinei de Fier" ("In the Shadow of the Iron Curtain"), in ''Magazin Istoric'', November 1995 *Francisco Veiga, ''Istoria Gărzii de Fier, 1919-1941: Mistica ultranaționalismului'' ("History of the Iron Guard, 1919-1941: The Mystique of Ultra-Nationalism"), Humanitas, Bucharest, 1993 *Nicolae Videnie, "«Alegerile» din martie 1948: epilogul listelor electorale alternative. Obsesia unanimității — primii pași" ("The «Elections» of March 1948: an Epilogue to Alternative Electoral Lists. Unanimity Obsession — The First Steps Taken"), in ''Dosarele Istoriei'', 11/V, 2000

External links

*

("Political programs of major parties in interwar Romania") {{Historical Romanian political parties

Political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...