General · EdgepediaSeptember 17, 20266 min read

Next Romanian parliamentary election

The next Romanian parliamentary election is due by law on 30 November 2028, when Romanian voters will elect all seats of the bicameral Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, under the proportional representation system set by Law 208/2015.¹ The vote will follow the most turbulent parliamentary term since 1990: the coalition formed after the December 2024 election collapsed in May 2026, three successive prime ministerial nominees failed to win parliamentary approval, and opinion polling shows the nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) leading by a wide margin.²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Scheduled date	30 November 2028, on the normal expiry of the legislature elected on 1 December 2024¹
Chambers at stake	Full renewal of the Chamber of Deputies (331 seats, including 19 minority seats) and the Senate (134 seats)¹
Electoral system	Proportional representation with closed party lists; threshold of 5% of valid national votes, or 20% of valid votes in at least 4 constituencies⁴
Diaspora representation	Four deputies and two senators elected by Romanians abroad⁵
Leading in polls	AUR at 38.2%, PNL 20.3%, PSD 17.5% (INSCOP barometer, 11–14 May 2026); AUR holds 18% of parliamentary seats⁶^•²
Early-election risk	The president can dissolve Parliament if it rejects two Cabinet proposals within 60 days of the first rejection, raising the chance of elections before 2028³

Constitutional and legal framework

Under Article 62 of the Romanian Constitution, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are elected by universal, equal, direct, secret and free suffrage, and the number of deputies and senators is set by electoral law in proportion to the population.⁷ The electoral law in force is Law 208/2015. Romania used proportional representation from 1990 until the 2004 elections, adopted a mixed single-member-district system for 2008 and 2012, and returned to proportional representation with the 2016 elections after the experiment was abandoned.⁴^•⁸^•⁹

Threshold. A party or alliance enters parliament by clearing one of two tests under Article 94 of Law 208/2015: 5% of all valid votes cast nationally, or 20% of the valid votes in at least four electoral constituencies.⁴ Seats for the diaspora are separate: four deputies and two senators represent Romanians abroad.⁵ Legally established national minorities that win no seats are entitled to one Chamber seat each through their citizens' organizations; there are 19 such minorities, which is why the Chamber's statutory size rose from 330 to 331 before the 2024 vote.¹

The outgoing legislature

The 2024 parliamentary election took place on 1 December 2024, one week after the first round of a presidential election that the Constitutional Court invalidated on 6 December over alleged foreign interference.¹ The governing coalition led by Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) won a majority in both chambers, with 157 of 331 Chamber seats and 68 of 134 Senate seats, while AUR, led by George Simion, significantly increased its share and became the second-largest party in both.¹ In the Chamber, the PSD won 86 seats, AUR 63, the National Liberal Party (PNL) 49, the Save Romania Union (USR) 40, S.O.S. Romania 28, the Party of Young People (POT) 24, and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) 22.¹ Three radical right-wing parties entered parliament, two of them as newcomers: S.O.S. Romania, led by Diana Șoșoacă, and the newly formed Party of Young People, which had supported Călin Georgescu in the presidential race and won 6.5% of the vote.¹⁰

In December 2024 the PSD, the PNL, the USR and the UDMR formed a pro-European coalition government, and in June 2025 the PNL's Ilie Bolojan took over as prime minister.¹¹^•¹² That government fell on 5 May 2026, when the PSD joined the far right to pass a no-confidence motion after ten months in office.¹²

Political crisis and the prospect of early elections

Since the government's collapse, Romania has been unable to form a cabinet. President Nicușor Dan's nominees Eugen Tomac and Adrian Vestea both failed, Tomac having withdrawn after failing to present a cabinet within 10 days, and Vestea's proposed cabinet falling with 189 votes for against the 233 needed.¹³^•¹⁴ In September 2026 lawmakers rejected a center-right cabinet proposed by Siegfried Mureșan with 182 votes for against the 233 needed, the third failed designation in recent months.³ The constitution allows the president to dissolve Parliament if it rejects two Cabinet proposals within 60 days of the first rejection, which raises the possibility of elections well before the scheduled 2028 date.³ The deadlock coincides with one of the largest budget deficits in the European Union.¹³

Polling landscape

Polling since the collapse shows a sharp shift toward the sovereigntist-nationalist right. An INSCOP Research barometer conducted 11–14 May 2026 put AUR first at 38.2%, with the PNL second at 20.3% and the PSD third at 17.5%.⁶ OSW analysts reported AUR polling at 35–40% while holding 18% of parliamentary seats, and noted that the absence of a full explanation for the annulment of the 2024 presidential election had eroded the credibility of mainstream parties and bolstered radical forces.² The PSD, which fell to 22% in the 2024 parliamentary election, remains a major force but has been losing ground in successive polls.¹⁵

What the next vote will decide

The election will determine control of both chambers and, with it, the feasibility of any governing majority. In the outgoing legislature no pro-European majority exists without the PSD.¹⁶ According to political consultant Cristian Andrei, the ongoing impasse has no obvious way out, though an alliance among the Social Democrats, the populists, and the extremists could pull Romania away from a pro-European governing coalition and toward a populist one.³ If current polling held, AUR would enter the campaign as the largest single force.⁶

References

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026