DIGITAL DUEL by NewsVibe. TOP 5 parties in the Romanian online space

According to the aggregated data analyzed with the help of NewsVibe, an AI platform for real-time media monitoring, all five parties included in the top recorded, in the last week, increases in the number of mentions in the most relevant online sources, although in significantly different proportions.

If the first week of the year 2026 was marked rather by a reduced visibility of the main parties and the predominance of external themes — such as US actions in Venezuela — the last few days have brought internal topics back to the forefront of the media space. Among these are debates about appointments to the leadership of intelligence services and major prosecutor's offices, the government's accountability for reducing the salary envelope in ministries, as well as the possible reform of the pension system in the national security and public safety sectors. Additionally, a topic with a consistent presence in the most relevant online sources over the past seven days has been the plagiarism accusations against Justice Minister Radu Marinescu by journalist Emilia Șercan.

This cumulative context has generated visibility increases for all parties included in the top, but the most pronounced developments have been recorded, by far, in the case of the governing formations. The number of mentions about PSD increased by almost 240%, those about PNL by over 150%, while in the case of USR and UDMR, the increases were approximately 220%. In comparison to the previous period, the evolution of AUR was notably more modest, indicating a reduced capacity to capitalize on the dominant themes of the period.

NEWSVIBE GRAPHIC. Top 5 parties by the volume of mentions in relevant online sources and social media (sources validated by the NewsVibe platform), in the last week.

VISIBILITY AND COMPARATIVE IMPACT. The competitive analysis engine created by NewsVibe evaluates the strength of political actors to penetrate the online space, directly compared to their competitors.

The overall increase in the number of mentions about parties is approaching 190% compared to the previous week. The mentions and estimated impact associated with the parties in the governing coalition exceed 90% of the aggregated totals, both in volume and in estimated exposure. In this context, PSD becomes the dominant actor in the online conversation about parties, concentrating approximately 40% of the total mentions and almost 40% of the total estimated impact of all analyzed references.

This redistribution of visibility indicates a centering of online sources' attention around the government, against the backdrop of sensitive public policy themes on the agenda, which generate both intense media exposure and polarization. At the same time, the data suggest a limited capacity of the opposition to set the agenda during this period, with the online conversation being predominantly structured by the decisions and controversies associated with the executive power.

NewsVibe Graphics. The share of the number of mentions (left), respectively the impact of mentions (right) about each of the parties from the total cumulative mentions about all five

NETWORK ANALYSIS. The tool created by NewsVibe – semantic network analysis – uses advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning methods to build interaction maps that highlight: the central actors of a conversation, the connections between them, the groups (clusters) of themes, concepts, and influencers (personalities and organizations) that have formed around an event, subject, or idea.

NewsVibe Graphic. The semantic network associated with the online conversation about the main 5 parliamentary parties, in the last week 

What the analysis shows:

• An area of online debate about parties is dominated by PSD and has in its proximity entities such as Radu Marinescu, Emilia Șercan, and DNA. This segment of the conversation captures both the accusations made by Emilia Șercan against Radu Marinescu, as well as the topic of the leadership of major prosecutor's offices, for whose appointments the Justice Minister recently initiated the procedure.
• Another segment of the online discourse is dominated by PNL, having associated entities from the executive sphere (Government, Ilie Bolojan) and from the parliamentary sphere. The emergence of the name of liberal deputy Ion Iordache stands out, indicating the impact of his project regarding the legalization of prostitution on the online conversation about PNL.
• Another area of the conversation has USR as a central actor and reflects especially the recent public appearances of the party leader, as well as the interventions of the Minister of Defense, Radu Miruță, who has launched several media-impact messages in recent days.
• An important cluster of the online conversation centers around discussions about the EU–Mercosur agreement, which have generated tensions within the governing coalition, especially between PSD and USR. The social democrats criticized the vote of the MAE representative in COREPER, accusing support for the agreement with Mercosur and the lack of communication from the Minister of Foreign Affairs within the coalition on this subject.
• Another area of interest is dominated by President Nicușor Dan and the speculations regarding his intentions related to appointments to the leadership of SRI and SIE, as well as the negotiations he might be conducting in this regard with the parties in the coalition.
• Finally, a distinct area of the online conversation centered on AUR stands out, primarily capturing discussions about the announced participation of the leader of this party in the protest on January 15, organized in Bucharest.

SENTIMENT. The NewsVibe platform has created an advanced automated sentiment analysis system, which uses specially trained AI algorithms and LLM tools to detect tonal nuances – favorable, unfavorable, or neutral – in the context of references to relevant entities for an online conversation.

NewsVibe Graphic. Automated evaluation of the tone of the online conversation about the main 5 parliamentary parties, in the last week

What the analysis shows:

• The online conversation about parties has, at the beginning of the year, a strong negative tone. This dynamic is explainable by the fact that the public agenda is dominated by conflictual subjects and sensitive government decisions, which generate polarization, emotional reactions, and direct confrontations between political actors. In the absence of positive or consensual themes, the visibility of the parties is predominantly fueled by controversies, accusations, and political disputes, which accentuate the overall negativity of the online conversation.
• The entities most frequently mentioned in negative and polarizing contexts are USR, PSD, and Radu Marinescu, as well as other entities associated with these political actors. This media coverage in online sources is primarily determined by the tensions between USR and PSD regarding the EU–Mercosur agreement, but also by the plagiarism accusations against the Justice Minister.

*****Summary created with the help of a data monitoring feed provided by the media monitoring platform NewsVibe Romania. The analysis, data, and images presented have been enhanced with the help of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence tools.