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

Although last week brought a premiere for Romanian politics – the voting of four motions of censure in a single day – the disputes within the coalition, as well as those between the government and the opposition, did not reflect uniformly in the visibility of the parties. Data collected and analyzed by NewsVibe, an AI media monitoring platform, shows that the only party that recorded an increase in the number of mentions in relevant online sources was AUR.

While PSD, PNL, USR, and UDMR recorded decreases in visibility, AUR grew spectacularly – over 110% compared to the previous week. The explanation lies in the way the party led by George Simion was presented in online conversations as the main initiator of the motions of censure debated and voted in Parliament. This also led to an advancement of AUR in the party rankings, placing it third, surpassing USR and UDMR.

Thus, the motions of censure brought additional public exposure only to the opposition, not to the formations within the governing coalition.

NEWSVIBE GRAPH. Top 5 parties based on 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 ability of political actors to penetrate the online space, directly compared to their competitors.

The total number of mentions about parties, as well as their projected impact, is decreasing compared to the previous week. Individually, AUR stands out as the "performer of the week": it ranks third in the number of mentions and manages to surpass USR and UDMR in terms of the impact generated by these mentions.

This is one of the few weeks in recent times where the cumulative visibility of the parties in the governing coalition – and especially their estimated impact – no longer approaches the threshold of 90% of the total. This change outlines a redistribution of public attention, with the opposition managing to gain ground amid parliamentary tensions.

NewsVibe Charts. The share of the number of mentions (left), respectively the impact of the 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 Chart. The semantic network associated with the online conversation about the main 5 parliamentary parties, in the last week 

What the analysis shows:

• A consistent core formed around PSD, connected with terms such as PNL, Ilie Bolojan, or Sorin Grindeanu. This core reflects the continuation of disputes within the coalition regarding government policies – disputes visible even during the speeches made by party representatives at the debate on the motions of censure.
• A second notable core is forming around AUR, with associated terms such as George Simion, Parliament, or Government, being strongly linked to the opposition's efforts regarding the motions of censure. This core intersects both with the one formed around USR and UDMR, against the backdrop of direct confrontations between representatives of these parties in plenary (unrelated to the motions of censure), as well as with the one centered on PSD and PNL, a connection determined mainly by the debate on the motions.
• A distinct role is also played by the core Romania, visible as a convergence point of the entire conversation, maintaining connections of varying intensity with all other thematic areas.

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

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

What the analysis shows:

• PSD remains the political actor for which media contexts continue to be dominated by tension and confrontation. The media context for PSD is the most unbalanced in this regard, at the level of the last week, compared to other political actors.
• AUR is also quite present in negative/tensioned conversational contexts, not only as a result of the debates related to the motions of censure but also due to indirect connections made in the media between a former head of the intelligence services from the Republic of Moldova, accused of espionage, and members of the party led by George Simion. AUR has also benefited from positive media contexts, through the visibility of the opposition message or by participating in events with symbolic significance (e.g., the protest).
• In general, with the exception of PSD, the majority of political actors (parties, party members, etc.) have benefited from more balanced online media contexts in the last week.

*****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.