The Social Liberal Union ( ro, Uniunea Social Liberală, USL) was a

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government. The term is most commonly used in countries where there are t ...

of several

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

in Romania. The alliance contained two major centre-left and centre-right parties, more specifically the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL).

History

Formation

The USL was formed on 5 February 2011 initially between the Social Democratic Party (PSD), and the Centre Right Alliance (ACD) of National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Conservative Party (PC).

2012 elections

In June 2012, the USL won the local elections by a landslide. After the elections, in September, the

National Union for the Progress of Romania The National Union for the Progress of Romania ( ro, Uniunea Națională pentru Progresul României, UNPR) is a political party in Romania. The party was formed in March 2010 by independents who had broken away from the Social Democratic Party (P ...

(UNPR), originally a breakaway from PSD and PNL, together with the PSD formed the

Centre Left Alliance The Centre Left Alliance ( Romanian: ''Alianţa de Centru Stânga'', ACS) was a political alliance between the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR) founded in August 2012. The alliance was par ...

(ACS) and entered the USL. At the parliamentary elections in December, the four-party coalition won about two thirds of the seats in both the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

Dissolution

After the ''Centre Right Alliance'' (ACD) of PNL and PC dissolved in November 2013, the PC turned leftwards and aligned more with PSD and UNPR. As a result, the centre-right National Liberal Party (PNL) broke up the coalition on 25 February 2014 and entered opposition. In the 2014 presidential election, PSD, UNPR, and PC would designate Victor Ponta as their united candidate, while the PNL formed a new Christian Liberal Alliance (ACL) with the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), supporting

Klaus Iohannis Klaus Werner Iohannis (; ; also spelled Johannis; born 13 June 1959) is a Romanian politician, physicist and former teacher who has been serving as the president of Romania since 2014. He became leader of the National Liberal Party (Romania), Na ...

Electoral history

Legislative elections

; Notes ¹ ² ³

Local elections

National elections

; Notes ¹

Mayor of Bucharest

; Notes ¹

References

{{Romanian political parties Political parties established in 2011 Defunct political party alliances in Romania 2011 establishments in Romania National Liberal Party (Romania) Social Democratic Party (Romania)