Romania ranks third in Europe by the percentage of votes from the total population for populist parties

Riana Gegiu

22 October 2026, 13:50

Current Affairs

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Romania ranks third among 31 European democracies by the share of votes cast for parties classified as populist, authoritarian or extremist, according to the 2026 Authoritarian Populism Index, published on Thursday by Timbro and EPICENTER.

In the 2024 parliamentary elections, more than half of the votes went to the Social Democratic Party (PSD), AUR, S.O.S. Romania and POT, parties included in the report in the category of challenger parties. AUR won 18% of the vote and became the second-largest party in Parliament.

Romania is outpaced by Bulgaria and the Czech Republic and is followed by Italy and Slovakia. The report shows that, on average, challenger parties attracted 32.6% of the European vote, the highest level in the postwar period. In 26 of the 31 countries analyzed, these parties exceeded the 20% threshold.

The study classifies AUR, S.O.S. Romania and POT as parties with high levels of authoritarianism, while PSD is considered populist, with moderate authoritarian tendencies. Researchers describe Romania’s system as one of the most volatile in Central and Eastern Europe, with successive waves of nationalist and anti-establishment parties, from PUNR and PRM to AUR, S.O.S. Romania and POT.

At the European level, the report warns that challenger parties are no longer simply protest parties, but political actors involved in government. The authors identify the weakening of judicial independence, restrictions on media pluralism and the politicization of state institutions as the main risks to democracy.

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Context: the political crisis in Bucharest and economic pressure have visibly fueled AUR’s prominence in media analysis and polls

Before the index was published, Romania featured prominently in the European press amid the political deadlock in Bucharest following the successive rejection of several cabinets intended to replace the dismissed government of Ilie Bolojan, with reports focusing on “institutional gridlock” and instability. At the same time, other issues related to the security of the eastern flank and the war in Ukraine were addressed in the context of the risks posed by Russian drones, with Romania appearing primarily as a location for NATO operational cooperation.

On the economic and security front, the same period also brought the rising cost of energy to international attention (including record diesel prices in the EU, with Romania among the countries mentioned) and cooperation against cybercrime, following the international operation against the KillSec ransomware group, which also included actions in Romania.

Domestically, INSCOP director Remus Ștefureac warned that the prolongation of the political crisis and the collapse of trust in traditional parties are contributing to radicalization, keeping AUR at around the 40% threshold in its surveys and highlighting the role of social discontent and the lack of a credible alternative.