The ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) won Romania’s parliamentary elections this Sunday with 22.5% of the votes, with around 96% of the vote. The ultranationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) remains in second place with 17.7% of support; in third place, the ruling National Liberal Party (PNL, center-right), with around 13.6%, and in fourth position is the centrist nationalist formation Union Save Romania (USR), with 11.2%.
Also entering Parliament – after overcoming the 5% barrier – are the far-right groups SOS Romania, with 7.2%, and the Youth Party, with 5.8%. The formation of the Hungarian minority, Democratic Union of Hungarians of Romania (UDMR), achieves 6.9%. The pro-European bloc—PSD, PNL, USR and UDMR—accounts for around 57% with the current count, while the ultranationalist formations have less than 31%.
The participation, with 52.5%, has been the highest in legislative elections since 2004. Analysts anticipated an increase in support for ultra options in Romania, a member country of NATO and the European Union, after the unexpected victory of the pro-Russian Calin Georgescu in the presidential elections a week ago, when he obtained almost 23% of the votes.
The two formations that have dominated Romanian politics in recent decades and that have governed in a grand coalition since 2021, the PSD and the PNL, have suffered significant losses of support. The PSD loses just under five percentage points compared to the 2020 legislative elections, while the PNL accumulates a drop of more than ten points. Control of Parliament will be a key objective for pro-European forces as a counterweight to Georgescu if he becomes president.
“Romanians came out to vote and showed how strong democracy is in Romania. The PSD is the main political force in Romania,” declared the Social Democratic Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, who resigned a week ago as leader of the party for failing to reach the presidential second round when he started as a favorite. The PSD leader, whose voters are mainly from rural areas, added: “I think we should all look carefully at today’s result. It is an important signal that Romanians sent to the political class. Let us continue to develop the country with European money, but let us protect our identity, our national values and our faith.”
The formation that has grown the most is AUR, which would double its percentage from 9% in 2020 to almost 18%. The leader of AUR, George Simion, had promised that if he came to power he would suspend military aid to Ukraine and, with rhetoric similar to that of the Hungarian prime minister, the ultranationalist Viktor Orbán, he has stated that he wants “peace” and a “ truce” in the conflict unleashed by the Russian invasion. The ultra politician presents himself as a defender of traditional and “true Romanian” values, with rhetoric that mixes nationalist, irredentist, religious and populist aspects.
Simion supports Georgescu
The rise of ultranationalist forces reflects popular discontent with corruption, poverty and the management of the dominant parties, PSD and PNL. In 2023, a third of Romanians were at risk of poverty, and the average annual income was still less than a third (around 6,500 euros) of the EU average, according to Eurostat. In addition, inflation, which last year was 10% and this year is expected to be 5%, is much higher in basic foods, which are 50% more expensive than before the pandemic, according to official data.
These legislative elections have been overshadowed by a week of high tension in Romanian politics, first by Georgescu’s surprise victory and then by the recount of all presidential votes ordered by the Constitutional Court due to suspicions of fraud. This Monday the Constitutional Court decides whether to validate or annul the results of the first presidential round.
Barely known, Georgescu, supported by a sophisticated TikTok strategy that reached hundreds of millions of views, declared that he had not spent any funds on his campaign, raising suspicions of illegal financing and foreign interference. Romania, until now a bastion of stability in the Black Sea region and a key NATO ally in Western aid to Ukraine, is now mired in an unprecedented situation of political uncertainty.
The head of state is responsible for appointing a prime minister in charge of forming a government once the two chambers have been constituted and elect their presidents. Although the president has limited powers, he has powers in security, foreign policy – he represents the country in the Council of the EU – and sets political times.
