Liberals lose much of their advantage against the social democrats in Romania

The liberals have lost much of the popularity they had at the end of last year, when their candidate Klaus Iohannis won the presidential elections, and the social-democrats have gained in the polls while still holding the executive power in Romania. The gap between the two main parties on Romania’s political stage has shrunk from 17% to just 4%, according to recent polls. If Romania organized parliamentary elections next Sunday, 41% of Romanians would vote for the new National Liberal Party PNL (made of the National Liberal Party PNL and the Liberal Democratic Party PDL), according to a recent CSCI survey. PNL would thus be the winner of Romania’s parliamentary elections, followed by the Social Democratic Party PSD with 37% of the votes. However, PNL’s score in the polls dropped by some 11 percentage points, from 52% in December 2014, while PSD registered a 2 percentage points increase, from 35%, reports local Agerpres. The Magyar Democratic Union UDMR and M10, a new party set up by former Justice Minister and presidential candidate Monica Macovei, would come next with 5% of the votes each. The Liberals and Democrats Alliance ALDE, the Popular Movement Party PMP, and the United Romania Party PRU, with 3% of the votes each. The National Union for the Progress of Romania UNPR would register a score of 2%, but none of these parties would make it to the Parliament, as the threshold is 5%. The study was conducted on a sample of over 1,000 people. Survey: Liberals would win Romanian parliamentary elections Survey shows liberals likely to win Romanian parliamentary elections with record score Presidency becomes most trusted political institution in Romania, after November elections Klaus Iohannis wins Romania’s presidential elections by a wide margin Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com