Largest political parties in Romania, down in the polls amid Covid-19 crisis

The two largest political parties in Romania, the Social Democrat Party (PSD) - opposition and the National Liberal Party (PNL) - ruling, have been losing ground since the start of the Covid-19 epidemic in the country.

Meanwhile, smaller reformist parties such as Save Romania Union (USR), PLUS and Pro Romania have been gaining more traction among the electorate, the latest electoral poll carried out by IMAS reveals.

PNL’s score was assessed at 36.7% in March's voting intentions, down four percentage points from the previous month due to the crisis caused by the coronavirus, reveals the monthly barometer conducted by IMAS for Europa FM.

The Liberals are not the only ones to pay for the health crisis, as PSD, which has ruled the country until November last year, also went down. The Social Democrats were evaluated in March with 23.9% of the voting intentions, down two percentage points from February.

Major increases were posted by USR and PLUS, which were evaluated at 12.5%, respectively 6.5%, in the March voting intentions. For the USR, the increase is 2.5 pp compared to last month, while PLUS almost doubled its score from 3.5% to 6.5%.

Pro Romania, the party of former PM Victor Ponta, also registered a slight increase, of just over one percentage point, to 5.8% in March.

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