THE RISE OF A NATIONALIST-POPULIST PARTY IN ROMANIA – THE ALLIANCE FOR THE UNION OF ROMANIANS (AUR)

Mihaela Ilie

Abstract

During the last few years, while, in many countries, political leaders and supporters of liberal democracy were facing new and unexpected challenges due to the rise of populist radical right tendencies, Romania seemed to be immune to such temptations. The latest development of the political landscape in other countries from Eastern Europe like Hungary or Poland, apparently, didn’t matter either. Therefore, after the downfall of the Greater Romania Party, more than a decade ago, and some other less successful attempts, the far-right side of the Romanian political spectrum remained empty. Things suddenly changed in the 2020 legislative elections when, as a surprise for Romanian citizens, political analysts, and media as well, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians – an unknown political party with nationalist-populist views – managed to obtain more than 9% of the votes and thus became the fourth largest party in the Romanian Parliament. The aim of the paper is to analyse the main factors that led to this outcome and to observe to what extent the anti-vaccination and anti-restrictions rhetoric promoted by the representatives of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians during the Covid-19 pandemic enhanced the party’s chances to obtain this unexpected result.

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• Țăranu, A. & C. R. Pîrvulescu. 2022. The Crisis of Liberal Democracy between Populism and Technocracy. Civil Revue. Civil society – Romanian diagnoses, Special issue 3, 43-60.
• United States Embassy in Romania. 2019a. 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Romania. https://ro.usembassy.gov/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices-romania/
• United States Embassy in Romania. 2019b. 2019 Report on International Religious Freedom: Romania. https://ro.usembassy.gov/2019-report-on-international-religious-freedom-romania/
• Voicu, M., I. Ramia & C. Tufiș. 2019. Measurement of radical populism in Romania: dimensions and over time change. Paper presented at: International Workshop Comparing values in (post)-crisis Europe organized by European Values Study and GORBI Research Institute, Tbilisi, Georgia, October 10^th-11^th, 2019.
• Weyland, K. & R. L. Madrid. 2019. When Democracy Trumps Populism: European and Latin American Lessons for the United States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Wondreys, J. & C. Mudde. 2022. Victims of the Pandemic? European Far-Right Parties and COVID-19. Nationalities Papers, 50: 1, Special issue on Pandemic Nationalism, 86-103.
• Zagoneanu, C. & N. Bușurică. ”ÎPS Teodosie, prezent la Tribunalul Constanța, pentru pelerinajul de Sfântul Andreiˮ. Ziua de Constanța November 24^th, 2020. https://www.ziuaconstanta.ro/stiri/justitie/live-video-ips-teodosie-prezent-la-tribunalul-constanta-pentru-pelerinajul-de-sfantul-andrei-734096.html
• Facebook pages:
• Claudiu Târziu: https://www.facebook.com/claudiu.tarziu
• Diana Șoșoacă: https://www.facebook.com/diana.macovei1
• George Simion: https://www.facebook.com/george.simion.unire