The Social Liberal Union ( ro, Uniunea Social Liberală, USL) was a

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government. The term is most commonly used in countries where there ar ...

of several political parties in

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

. The alliance contained two major

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...

and

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and m ...

parties, more specifically the

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 Fo ...

(PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL).

History

Formation

The USL was formed on 5 February 2011 initially between the

(PSD), and the Centre Right Alliance (ACD) of National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Conservative Party (PC).

2012 elections

In June 2012, the USL won the

local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

by a landslide. After the elections, in September, the

National Union for the Progress of Romania The National Union for the Progress of Romania ( ro, Uniunea Națională pentru Progresul României, UNPR) is a political party in Romania. The party was formed in March 2010 by independents who had broken away from the Social Democratic Party (P ...

(UNPR), originally a breakaway from PSD and PNL, together with the PSD formed the

Centre Left Alliance The Centre Left Alliance ( Romanian: ''Alianţa de Centru Stânga'', ACS) was a political alliance between the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR) founded in August 2012. The alliance was par ...

(ACS) and entered the USL. At the

parliamentary elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ...

in December, the four-party coalition won about two thirds of the seats in both 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 e ...

and 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 Bourbon ...

Dissolution

After the ''Centre Right Alliance'' (ACD) of PNL and PC dissolved in November 2013, the PC turned leftwards and aligned more with PSD and UNPR. As a result, the

National Liberal Party (PNL) broke up the coalition on 25 February 2014 and entered opposition. In the 2014 presidential election, PSD, UNPR, and PC would designate

Victor Ponta Victor Viorel Ponta (; born 20 September 1972) is a Romanian jurist and politician, who served as Prime Minister of Romania between his appointment by President Traian Băsescu in May 2012 and his resignation in November 2015. A former member ...

as their united candidate, while the PNL formed a new Christian Liberal Alliance (ACL) with the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), supporting

Klaus Iohannis Klaus Werner Iohannis (; ; also spelled Johannis; born 13 June 1959) is a Romanian politician, physicist and former teacher who has been serving as the president of Romania since 2014. He became leader of the National Liberal Party (Romania), Na ...

Electoral history

Legislative elections

; Notes ¹ ² ³

Local elections

National elections

; Notes ¹

Mayor of Bucharest

; Notes ¹

References

{{Romanian political parties Political parties established in 2011 Defunct political party alliances in Romania 2011 establishments in Romania National Liberal Party (Romania) Social Democratic Party (Romania)