2024 Romanian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Romania on 1 December 2024.

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 Alliance 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, 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 Ciolacu Cabinet.

9th of June elections
Foreshadowing the elections in December, the 2024 European Parliament and local elections took place on the 9th of 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 registered significant losses, with the People's Movement Party losing 88% of its mayors and the Save Romania Union 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 the ascension to the national stage of Câmpulung mayor Elena Lasconi in his stead.

Date of the election
Both parliamentary and presidential terms are scheduled to end in late 2024. After consulting the various parliamentary groups, the Ciolacu Government announced the parliamentary elections would take place on the 1st of 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.

Electoral system
Both the 330 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 the 1st of 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. 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).

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 (Alianța pentru Patrie, 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 (ACUM) 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, become 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.

The Green Party (PV) was also relaunched under the new name of the Green Party (The Greens) - (Partidul Verde - Verzii)). The party is currently led by two co-presidents, more specifically Marius Lazăr and Lavinia Cosma (former USR member between 2016 and 2019). The party first appeared in the polls in the beginning of 2023.

In late September 2023, PNL vice-president and deputy Ben Oni Ardelean resigned from the party and announced that he is initiating a new political project. Consequently, he recently launched an allegedly conservative political party called Hope's Movement (Mișcarea Speranței) for the disillusioned electorate in Romania.

Civil society activists announced at the end of November the launch of the Party for Nature, People and Animals (Romanian: Partidul pentru Natură, Oameni și Animale - NOA). The party is temporarily led by Lucian Rad, former county councilor in Brașov.

New political alliances
In May 2022, the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNȚCD) announced that it will prepare a new political alliance with the Alliance for the Homeland (ApP, formerly known under the acronym PAINE) for the forthcoming Romanian parliamentary elections scheduled to take place in late 2024. The two parties will allegedly form a so-called "sovereignist" block which will oppose the National Coalition for Romania (CNR). In late August 2022 however, Liviu Dragnea, strongly associated in the past with the party at an unofficial level, had decided to indefinitely distance himself from the ApP.

In June 2023, incumbent USR leader Cătălin Drulă stated that the Save Romania Union (USR) wants to form a right-wing pole able to win the 2024 elections. The alleged right-wing pole is envisaged to form around the USR and become the winner of all the elections scheduled in 2024 in Romania, according to the incumbent USR leader. In these regards, discussions have already been carried out between USR and the People's Movement Party (PMP). The right-wing alliance proposed by the USR is presented as an alternative to the current ruling CNR coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL). The respective right-wing or centre-right alliance/electoral block might also include the Force of the Right (FD). It was later on reported in October 2023 by a USR member that the Force of the Right (FD) will be included in the respective alliance/electoral block at national level as well as the fact that he does not exclude punctual future collaborations on several political measures with the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ).

On 4 July 2023, the Socialist Romania Alliance (ARS), formed by the Romanian Socialist Party (PSR) and the Social Democratic Workers' Party (PMSD) was registered.

On 23 September 2023, various extra-parliamentary far-right, ultra-nationalist and traditionalist conservative groups announced the creation of the Nationalist Bloc, led by Bogdan Mihai Alecu.

On 14 November 2023, at an AUR press conference, Lidia Vadim Tudor (the daughter of the late Corneliu Vadim Tudor), former Minister for Business Environment Ilan Laufer (who is also the president of the National Identity Force), businessman Muhammad Murad, entrepreneur Sorin Constantinescu and Sorin Ilieșiu, as well as deputies Florică Calotă (who was elected on PNL list), Daniel Forea (elected on PSD list), Dumitru Viorel Focșa (elected on AUR, but later left) and senators Ovidiu Iosif Florean (elected on PNL list), Călin Gheorghe Matieș (elected on PSD list) and Vasilică Potecă (elected on PNL list) announced that they are joining AUR for the next election. Later, on 21 November, AUR announced, together with the Romanian Village Party, National Rebirth Alliance, Romanian Republican Party and National Peasants' Alliance the creation of a Sovereigntist Alliance to contest at the 2024 Romanian parliamentary election.

On 25 November 2023, several extra-parliamentary political parties announced the creation of the Romanian Sovereigntist Bloc, which includes: Right Republican Party, Romanian Nationhood Party, Coalition for the Nation, Reformist Party, Homeland Party, Christian Social Popular Union Party.

On 9 December 2023, leaders of Green Party (Verzii) and Ecologist Party of Romania (PER) announced a new political alliance on political scene for 2024 European Parliament elections, AER for Romania Alliance.

On 14 December 2023, Save Romania Union, Force of the Right and the People's Movement Party officially announced the creation of a right-wing electoral alliance to contest in the 2024 elections. On 18 December, the alliance was formally named as United Right Alliance.

On 14 March 2024, the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party formed an alliance with the Strong Romania Party.

Opinion polls
The graphic below details the current overall voting intention of the Romanian electorate for the forthcoming 2024 Romanian parliamentary elections, with aggregate data correct as of mid June 2023: