The political framework of Romania

Political Outline

Current Political Leaders: President: Klaus Werner IOHANNIS (since 21 December 2014)
Prime Minister: Marcel CIOLACU (since 15 June 2023)
Next Election Dates: Presidential: 4 and 18 May 2025
Chamber of Deputies and Senate: November 2028
Main Political Parties: The main political parties in the country are:

- Social Democratic Party (PSD): centre-left, focused on social welfare, economic equality, and progressive policies
- National Liberal Party (PNL): centre-right, conservative, pro-European party advocating for market reforms and national development
- Democratic Alliance of Hungarians (UDMR): supports minority Hungarian interests, liberal conservatism
- Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR): right-wing, conservative, nationalist
- Save Romania Union (USR): syncretic, liberal
- Party of Young People (POT): right-wing to far-right
- S.O.S. Romania (SOS Ro): right-wing populist, socially conservative, and irredentist.
Executive Power: The President is the Head of State and is elected by universal suffrage for a term of five years, renewable once. The President is also the Commander-in-Chief of the army and is responsible for protecting the Constitution. Under the Romanian Constitution, the President acts as a mediator between the various centers of power in the country. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President — usually the leader of the majority party or coalition — and serves for a term of four years, aligned with the parliamentary cycle. The Prime Minister is the Head of Government and holds executive power, including law enforcement and management of the country's affairs. The Council of Ministers is appointed by the Prime Minister and must be approved by Parliament.
Legislative Power: The legislature in Romania is bicameral. The Parliament consists of the Senate (the upper house) with 136 seats and the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house) with 330 seats, though the number of seats may vary based on population changes and electoral laws. The members of both houses are elected by direct, popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms. The executive branch of the Government is directly or indirectly dependent on the support of the Parliament, often expressed through a vote of confidence. The Prime Minister does not have the power to dissolve the Parliament directly, but the President can do so after consultation with the political parties represented in the two houses. The people of Romania have considerable political rights, including participation in free elections, political party membership, and political expression

Indicator of Freedom of the Press

The world rankings, published annually, measures violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire incorporating the main criteria (44 in total) to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. This questionnaire was sent to partner organisations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).

World Rank:: 48/180

Indicator of Political Freedom

Definition

Definition:

The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.

Ranking:: Free
Political Freedom:: 2/7

Political freedom in the world (interactive map)
Source: Freedom in the World Report, Freedom House

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