The Romanian Ecologist Party (, PER) is an ecologist and currently mostly conservative and green conservative political party in Romania, member of the AER Alliance for Romania (Alianța AER pentru România). Without parliamentary representation, it is one of the microparties still active in the country with some representatives elected in the local administration (i.e. a few mayors and county councillors and 210 local councillors), especially in Râmnicu Vâlcea and Vâlcea County, where it is ranked third behind the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Romania's two largest parties. Previously, it collaborated with the Green Party (PV) in the 2008 legislative elections.
History
The party was founded by , an engineer, in January 1990 as a political organisation opposed to the National Salvation Front (FSN). Adrian Manolache launched the program and the platform of the PER on 5 January 1990 in the newspaper Libertatea, being one of the newly founded parties in Romania and the second post-1989 registered one after the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNȚ-CD).
This party opposed the politics of the FSN from a very early stage and entered in an alliance with Radu Câmpeanu's National Liberal Party (PNL) in April, 1990, also endorsing the Timișoara Proclamation () which demanded that the former structures and members of the Romanian Communist Party should not get involved again in post-revolutionary politics.
The PER participated in the Romanian legislative election held in May 1990, winning one senator seat as well as eight deputy seats. The first (and also founding) president of the party was Adrian Manolache, but the first party congress which was held in April 1990 elected Otto Weber as president until 2001, when he was followed by Cornel Protopopescu until 2007, the latter being subsequently replaced by Dănuț Pop.
In the summer of 2023, the Ecologists announced a restart for the political formation, with a new leadership and announced that they are recalibrating their public agenda in accordance with the themes of the day, from food safety to protecting the environment, in an increasingly complicated context for agriculture and environment in general.
Notable members
Viorica Edelhauser, former deputy (between 1990 and 1992); Cornel Protopopescu, former deputy (between 1990 and 2000); Otto Ernest Weber, second president of the party; Gheorghe Toma, former mayor of the city of Suceava, Suceava County, Bukovina.
Leadership
Electoral history Legislative elections
ElectionChamberSenatePositionVotes%SeatsVotes%Seats1990232,2121.69192,5741.388th1992Part of CDRPart of CDR2nd1996Part of CDRPart of CDR1st2000101,2560.84108,3700.9910th200473,0010.7283,7710.808th2008Part of PVEPart of PVE10th201258,1780.7958,3350.797th201662,4140.8977,2181.099th202065,8071.1278,6541.338th202438,5610.4234,6410.379th
Presidential elections
ElectionCandidateFirst roundSecond roundVotes%PositionVotes%Position 1990did not compete 1992Endorsed Emil Constantinescu of the Romanian Democratic Convention 1996Endorsed Emil Constantinescu of the Romanian Democratic Convention 2000did not compete 2004did not compete 2009 22,511 0.23 11th 2014 43,194 0.45 12th 2019did not compete2024Endorsed independent candidate Cristian Diaconescu2025Endorsed independent candidate Victor Ponta
European elections
Election Votes % MEPs Position EU Party EP Group2007did not compete2009did not compete2014 64,232 1.15% 10th — —2019did not compete (endorsed the Social Democratic Party)
See also
List of environmental organizations
References