General elections were held in Romania on 28 November 2004, with a second round of the presidential elections on 12 December between Prime Minister

Adrian Năstase Adrian Năstase (; born 22 June 1950) is a Romanian jurist, academic/professor, blogger, and former politician who served as the Prime Minister of Romania from October 2000 to December 2004. He competed in the 2004 presidential election as th ...

of the ruling

Social Democratic Party of Romania The Social Democratic Party ( ro, Partidul Social Democrat, PSD) is the largest social democratic political party in Romania and also the largest overall political party in the country, aside from European Parliament level, where it is the seco ...

(PSD) and Bucharest Mayor

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservatism, conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions ...

of the opposition

Justice and Truth Alliance The Justice and Truth Alliance (originally in ro, Alianţa Dreptate şi Adevăr; or D.A. for short, meaning "yes" in Romanian) was a political alliance comprising two political parties in Romania, namely the centre-right liberal National Libera ...

(DA). Băsescu was elected

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

by a narrow majority of just 51.2%.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1616 Following 2003 amendments to the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

which lengthened the presidential term to five years, these were the last joint elections to the presidency and Parliament in Romania's political history thus far.

Campaign

Parliamentary elections

The main contenders were the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

alliance made up of the then incumbent

(PSD) and the

Romanian Humanist Party The Conservative Party ( ro, Partidul Conservator, PC) was a conservative political party in Romania. It was founded in 1991, approximately two years after the fall of Communism in Romania, originally under the name Romanian Humanist Party ( ro, ...

(PUR), and, on the other hand, the center-

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...

(DA; ro, Dreptate și adevăr) comprising the conservative-liberal National Liberal Party (PNL) and the initially

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

(PD) which later adopted a

center-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and mer ...

Christian democratic Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

ideology. Other significant contenders were the

Greater Romania Party The Greater Romania Party ( ro, Partidul România Mare, PRM) is a Romanian nationalist political party. Founded in May 1991 by Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor, it was led by the latter from that point until his death in September 2015. The ...

(PRM) (right-wing nationalists), the ethnic Hungarian party

Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR; hu, Romániai Magyar Demokrata Szövetség, RMDSZ; ro, Uniunea Democrată Maghiară din România, UDMR) is a political party in Romania which aims to represent the significant Hungarian m ...

(UDMR), and the Union for Romanian Reconstruction (UPRR), a group of right-wing technocrats.

Conduct

The opposition alleged fraudulent use by the PSD of "supplementary lists", designed to help Romanians in transit to vote. Traditionally, Romanians voted with a cardboard identity card, which was stamped when they voted. Most Romanians now have laminated plastic IDs, to which a printed stamp is affixed when a person votes. However, the stamps can be easily removed. In spite of this, electoral fraud is nearly impossible to commit, as every citizen is assigned to one local voting station, the only location he/she can vote at. The opposition claimed that there were organized "electoral excursions" of PSD supporters who were bussed to various towns to vote several times. This was corroborated by several teams of journalists, who followed the buses. The government attacked the opposition by arguing that 'rumours of fraud' affect Romania's economy and its external credibility. In January 2005, the IMAS institute of statistics released an analysis of the voting results in the 16,824 precincts. In the top 1,000 precincts with the most votes on the supplementary lists, the PSD had 43% to the DA's 23%, while in the precincts with fewest votes on supplementary lists, the PSD had 30% to the DA's 34%. The same trend was true in the precincts with most void votes
Wayback Machine

Presidential candidates

Results

President

Corneliu Vadim Tudor positioned himself against Băsescu, without openly endorsing Năstase. Marko Bela openly endorsed Adrian Năstase. Gheorghe Ciuhandu openly endorsed Băsescu.

Parliament

Senate

Chamber of Deputies

Aftermath

On 13 December, the PUR president

Dan Voiculescu Dan Voiculescu (; born September 25, 1946) is a Romanian politician and businessman. He is the founder and former president of the Romanian Humanist Party (PUR), later renamed the Conservative Party (PC). He was a senator from 2004 until his res ...

hinted that they have more in common with the DA (both have a center-right orientation) and that they might break from the PSD, but one day later said that he would remain with PSD. It has been suggested by the press that this could be result of a blackmail about his communist past. By 25 December both UDMR and PUR signed a protocol of alliance with DA (Justice and Truth), with the designated prime minister being

Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu (; born 14 January 1952) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 29 December 2004 to 22 December 2008. He was also president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the vice-pre ...

. Thus, the PSD was left in opposition while

(DA), the

(UDMR), and the

Humanist Party The Humanist International (also known as the International Humanist Party) is a consortium of political parties adhering to universal humanism (also known as Siloism, after the nickname of the movement's founder), founded in 1989 by over 40 na ...

(PUR, renamed Conservative Party in 2005) formed the government.

Notes

References

External links

Central Electoral Bureau

Fraud worries in Romanian poll
BBC News {{Romanian elections Parliamentary elections in Romania Presidential elections in Romania

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...