General elections were held in Romania on 3 November 1996, with a second round of the presidential election on 17 November.

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'', p1591 Opinion polls prior to the elections suggested incumbent President Ion Iliescu of the Social Democracy Party of Romania (PDSR, formerly the Democratic National Salvation Front) would win a third term, though it was believed a large field of candidates would push him into a runoff. Iliescu received the most votes in the first round, just ahead of his

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

runoff opponent,

Emil Constantinescu Emil Constantinescu () (born 19 November 1939) is a Romanian professor and politician, who served as the President of Romania, from 1996 to 2000. After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Constantinescu became a founding member and vice president ...

of the Romanian Democratic Convention (CDR). In the second round, Constantinescu defeated Iliescu with 54 percent of the vote. Iliescu conceded defeat soon after the polls closed. Constantinescu took office on 29 November, marking the first

peaceful transfer of power A peaceful transition or transfer of power is a concept important to democratic governments in which the leadership of a government peacefully hands over control of government to a newly-elected leadership. This may be after elections or during t ...

since the fall of Communism. To date, it is the only time since the introduction of direct presidential elections that an incumbent president has been defeated when running for re-election. The CDR, a broad coalition of parties opposing the governing centre-left PDSR, also emerged as the largest bloc in Parliament, winning 122 of the 343 seats in 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 ...

and 53 of the 143 seats in 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 ...

Presidential candidates

Results

President

Petre Roman, György Frunda, Gheorghe Funar and Nicolae Manolescu openly endorsed Constantinescu in the second round. Corneliu Vadim Tudor, Tudor Mohora and Adrian Păunescu openly endorsed Iliescu. File:Romanian presidential election 1996 - Iliescu.svg, Ion Iliescu File:Romanian presidential election 1996 - Constantinescu.svg, Emil Constantinescu File:Romanian presidential election 1996 - Roman.svg, Petre Roman File:Romanian presidential election 1996 - Frunda.svg, György Frunda File:Romanian presidential election 1996 - Vadim.svg, Corneliu Vadim Tudor

Parliament

Senate

Romanian Democratic Convention (CDR) members included the PNȚ-CD, PNL, PNL-CD (1 senator), PAR (3 senators), PER (1 senator), Ecologist Federation of Romania (FER) (1 senator).

Chamber of Deputies

References

{{Ion Iliescu Parliamentary elections in Romania Presidential elections in Romania Romania General

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 ...

Romania