Headlines

Romania's far-right opposition dominates in latest opinion poll

Published by Global Banking & Finance Review

Posted on January 21, 2026

2 min read

· Last updated: January 21, 2026

Add as preferred source on Google
Romania's far-right opposition dominates in latest opinion poll
Global Banking & Finance Awards 2026 — Call for Entries

BUCHAREST, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Romania's hard-right opposition party the Alliance for Uniting Romanians is towering over the four parties of the pro-European coalition government in popular support, an

Romania's far-right opposition dominates in latest opinion poll

Current Political Landscape in Romania

BUCHAREST, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Romania's hard-right opposition party the Alliance for Uniting Romanians is towering over the four parties of the pro-European coalition government in popular support, an opinion poll showed on Wednesday, although no election is due until 2028.

Opinion Poll Results

AUR, the second-largest party in the country, led surveys throughout 2025 despite its leader George Simion ultimately losing a presidential election re-run last May.

Impact of Political Decisions

The party opposes extending military aid to neighbouring Ukraine, is critical of the European Union's leadership and supportive of U.S. President Donald Trump's policies including on energy and immigration. Romania is a member of both the EU and NATO.

Future Elections and Predictions

The latest survey, conducted by pollster INSCOP, showed that 40.9% of Romanians would vote for AUR, the highest level of support for a hard-right party in more than three decades.

The leftist Social Democrats (PSD), currently parliament's biggest party and a member of the ruling coalition, ranked a distant second with 18.2%.

The Liberal Party of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan had 13.5% support. The other two ruling parties - the centre-right Save Romania Union (USR) and the ethnic Hungarian party UDMR - polled at 11.7% and 4.9%, respectively.

Romania's next general election is due in 2028.

The survey was conducted from January 12 to 15 and has a margin of error of 3.0%.

Romania re-ran a presidential election last year after it cancelled the original ballot in December 2024 on suspicion of Russian interference in favour of far-right frontrunner Calin Georgescu.

The cancelled vote plunged the country into its worst political crisis in decades, exposing its deep vulnerability to hybrid attacks and disinformation, dividing voters, crashing markets and threatening the country's investment-grade rating.

The broad coalition government which came to power after the subsequent ballot raised taxes and cut some state spending to help narrow the widest budget deficit gap in the EU.

While the measures helped keep Romania on the last rung of investment grade and unlocked EU funds, with the budget deficit expected to narrow to around 6% of economic output this year from more than 9% in 2024, they have also triggered protests and fuelled support for the opposition.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Key Takeaways

  • AUR leads Romanian opinion polls with 40.9% support.
  • No elections are scheduled until 2028 despite current standings.
  • AUR opposes military aid to Ukraine and criticizes EU leadership.
  • Romania's political crisis linked to suspected Russian interference.
  • Government measures to reduce deficit have sparked protests.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is military aid?
Military aid refers to assistance provided by one country to another in the form of weapons, equipment, training, or financial support to enhance the recipient's military capabilities.

Tags

Related Articles

More from Headlines

Explore more articles in the Headlines category