Mihaela Ilie

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

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.