Parliamentary elections were held in Romania on 1 December 2024. No party won a majority in the election, which saw the incumbent National Coalition for Romania (CNR), led by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL), lose their majority in both chambers of parliament alongside significant gains by far-right parties such as the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), S.O.S. Romania (SOS), and the Party of Young People (POT). Following the elections, a pro-European grand coalition government was formed between the PSD, the PNL, and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ), with the support of the national minorities. On 23 December, Ciolacu's second cabinet was inaugurated by a slim margin, with 240 votes out of 465 in favour.
Background Cîțu Cabinet
Following the previous legislative elections held in December 2020, the Cîțu Cabinet was appointed, backed by a centre-right coalition of three Romanian political parliamentary parties: the conservative liberal National Liberal Party (PNL), the progressive liberal/neoliberal USR PLUS (which subsequently switched back to the old USR acronym in late 2021), and the Hungarian minority-oriented Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ).
In September 2021, a major rift within the coalition led to the onset of the 2021 Romanian political crisis. Prime Minister Cîțu, with the backing of President Klaus Iohannis, sacked Justice minister Stelian Ion. All the other USR ministers withdrew from the government by 7 September 2021, which left the Cîțu Cabinet in the minority. It subsequently fell in November 2021 in an unparalleled motion of no confidence (the highest number of votes against a government in the political history of post-1989 Romania).
National Coalition for Romania
The political crisis ended with the formation of a grand coalition. As a result, the Ciucă Cabinet, backed by the National Coalition for Romania (CNR) comprising the PNL, PSD, and the UDMR/RMDSZ, was formed and remained in power until June 2023, when the latter of the three parties withdrew from the majority. On 15 June 2023, as part of the rotation government deal, the National Liberals made way for the Social Democratic-led First Ciolacu cabinet.
9 June elections
Foreshadowing the elections in December, the 2024 European Parliament and local elections took place on 9 June. The two governing parties formed an electoral alliance in the European Parliament election, as well as in some constituencies in the local elections. The results were seen as a victory for the CNR, although the PNL suffered many losses to their coalition partners in races where they ran separately. The newly formed United Right Alliance (ADU) registered significant losses, with the People's Movement Party (PMP) losing 88% of its mayors and the Save Romania Union (USR) losing key races in Brașov, as well as Bucharest, particularly Sectors 1 and 2, where the mayoral candidates who lost their seats claimed that electoral fraud took place. The USR's poor performance led to the resignation of Cătălin Drulă as party president and his replacement by Câmpulung mayor Elena Lasconi.
24 November presidential elections
The election is taking place amid political uncertainty caused by the results of the first round of the 2024 Romanian presidential election on 24 November, during which independent candidate Călin Georgescu and the USR's Elena Lasconi advanced to the runoff scheduled on 8 December at the expense of Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the PSD and Nicolae Ciucă of the PNL. On 6 December, the Constitutional Court of Romania annulled the first round of the election, as it came out that Georgescu received around €1,000,000 in illegal funding. Alleged Russian state interference in the election was widely reported.
Timeline Date of the election Both parliamentary and presidential terms were scheduled to end in late 2024. After consulting the various parliamentary groups, the Ciolacu Government announced that the parliamentary elections would take place on 1 December, with the presidential elections taking place around the same time (first round on 24 November, second round on 8 December), making 2024 the first time for such an electoral concatenation in Romania since the 2004 general election.
The election date also coincides with Great Union Day, the Romanian national holiday.
Timetable
+DateEvent7 SeptemberDeadline for the Permanent Electoral Authority to communicate to the Central Electoral Bureau the number of registered voters.10 SeptemberDeadline for parties to file for the creation of electoral alliances.2 OctoberDeadline for political parties, electoral alliances and organisations representing national minorities to file their candidates list.17 OctoberDeadline for independents to file for their candidacy.Deadline for Romanians abroad to register to vote.22 OctoberDeadline for political parties, alliances and organisations representing national minorities to choose their symbols.30 OctoberThe order in which the candidates will appear on the ballot is determined by a random draw in each constituency.1 NovemberThe start of the electoral campaign.16 NovemberDeadline for manufacturing official ballots and stamps.28 NovemberDeadline for receiving mail votes.The end of the electoral campaign.Voting at polling stations abroad began at 7:00 a.m. local time.1 DecemberVoting in Romania began at 7:00 a.m.
Electoral system
Both the 331 members of the Chamber of Deputies as well as the 136 members of the Senate are elected in 43 multi-member constituencies based on Romania's 41 counties, the Municipality of Bucharest, as well as the Romanian diaspora using party-list proportional representation. Law no. 208/2015 outlines that each constituency is to be awarded one deputy every 73,000 people and one senator every 168,000 people in accordance with the population data collected on 1 January of the previous year by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). Constituencies cannot have less than 4 deputies and 2 senators.
Parties must pass a threshold of 5% of the national vote or at least 20% of the vote in four constituencies. Electoral alliances must pass a higher threshold, namely 8% for those with two member-parties, 9% for three and 10% for alliances of more. Further seats (currently 18) can be added in the Chamber of Deputies for ethnic minority groups that compete in the elections and pass a lower threshold (5% of the votes needed to win a seat in the lower chamber, calculated by dividing the number of votes of parties, alliances and independent candidates that passed the threshold by the amount of seats that they won).
Following the elections, seats are allocated to the candidates of successful parties and lists in several stages, starting with constituencies, where seats are distributed according to the Hare quota of the constituency. Unused votes are then transferred and congregated at the national level, where remaining seats are distributed using the D'Hondt method, to ensure overall proportionality between a party's national vote share and its share of parliamentary seats. These remaining seats are then allocated to party candidates within the constituencies, based on the party results in each constituencies.
+ConstituenciesAllocated deputiesAllocated senatorsBucharest2913Iași125Constanța, Prahova11Bacău, Cluj, Dolj, Suceava, Timiș104Argeș, Bihor, Brașov, Galați9Mureș8Neamț83Arad, Buzău, Dâmbovița, Maramureș, Vaslui7Botoșani, Hunedoara, Sibiu, Olt6Vâlcea62Alba, Bistrița-Năsăud, Brăila, Caraș-Severin, Gorj, Harghita, Ilfov, Satu Mare, Teleorman, Vrancea5Călărași, Covasna, Giurgiu, Ialomița, Mehedinți, Sălaj, Tulcea, Romanian diaspora4
Parties and alliances
Parliamentary composition PartyIdeologyLeader(s)Initial seatingCurrent seatsGovernmentVotesSeatsCîțuCiucăCiolacu I PSD Social democracySocial conservatism Marcel Ciolacu29.3% (S) PNL ConservatismPro-Europeanism Nicolae Ciucă25.1% (D)25.5% (S) USR Social liberalismPro-Europeanism Elena Lasconi15.3% (D)16.0% (S) AUR George Simion9.0% (D)9.1% (S) UDMR(RMDSZ) Hungarian minority interests Hunor Kelemen5.7% (D)5.8% (S) FD Christian democracy Ludovic OrbanNewSplit from PNL— REPER Liberalism Dragoș PîslaruRamona StrugariuNewSplit from USR— PUSL Social conservatism Daniel Ionașcu1.0% (D)1.1% (S)— NR Ultranationalism Ninel PeiaNewSplit from AURRomania in ActionCentrismRomanian patriotismMihai Apostolachenew – Independents or others——7.57% (D)0.85% (S)— Vacant seats————
New political parties In July 2021, the nationalist Romanian Village Party (RoSAT), led by Marian Vișu-Iliescu, was launched, claiming to represent the interests of peasants, ignored by the major parties.
On 19 September 2021, former PSD president Liviu Dragnea, along with former ally Codrin Ștefănescu, launched the Alliance for the Homeland (, ApP), a split-off from PSD and "an alternative" to it according to both.
On 3 October 2021, former PNL Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, who had just been defeated for the leadership of the PNL by Florin Cîțu at the 2021 PNL party congress, stated that he is willing "to create a new political construction which would be ready to continue PNL's legacy". In this regard, at that time it was thought that he could be following Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, another former national liberal Prime Minister who subsequently left the PNL in order to establish his own political party, more specifically the Liberal Reformist Party (PLR), subsequently known as the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) after its merger with the Conservative Party (PC), a now defunct political party which was eventually absorbed by the PNL during late March 2022.
In addition, before further concrete steps on behalf of Orban, various commentators stated that Orban's faction could part ways with the main PNL should he not be designated PM after Cîțu's dismissal by the Parliament (which also occurred in the meantime). Subsequently, after PNL started negotiations with the PSD, more and more MPs resigned from the PNL and joined Orban's faction in the Parliament. Orban's new party was officially registered in December 2021 and is called "Force of the Right" (or FD for short).
In November 2021, a new party called NOW () was formed. It has a progressive and green ideology.
Additionally, in November 2021 the S.O.S. Romania party was founded by Maricel Viziteu, Adeluța and Gabriel Gib. However, it became later known on the Romanian political scene in May 2022, after senator Diana Iovanovici Șoșoacă, elected on the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) list, joined the party, and eventually became its leader.
Former PSD president and Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă has, in the meantime, became president of the Nation People Together (NOI) party.
After the March 2022 congress of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians, Dan Grăjdeanu, the president of the Orthodox Brotherhood NGO, announced that his NGO will end the collaboration with AUR and launch its own political party. On 17 April 2022, a party affiliated with the Brotherhood was created: the National Movement. It is led by Mihai Tîrnoveanu.
Former independent/technocratic Prime Minister and PLUS/USR PLUS/USR member (as well as former USR president) Dacian Cioloș officially quit the USR on 31 May 2022 to form a brand new party called REPER. Several MEPs (more specifically 4) who have been previously elected on the lists of the 2020 USR PLUS Alliance at the 2019 European Parliament election in Romania have sided with Dacian Cioloș for his newly established political project, but still remain affiliated with the Renew group in the European Parliament. REPER can thus be considered (and is, in actuality) a splinter of USR.
On 10 July 2022, ex-AUR deputy Mihai Lasca launched his own political party, called Patriots of the Romanian People. The party was labelled as Eurosceptic, Romanian nationalist and anti-LGBT.