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Democratic Liberal Party Partidul Democrat-Liberal | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| Abbreviation | PDL or PD-L |
| President |
|
| Founded | 15 December 2007 (2007-12-15) |
| Dissolved | 17 November 2014 (2014-11-17) |
| Merger of | Democratic Party & Liberal Democratic Party |
| Merged into | National Liberal Party (major faction) |
| Succeeded by | People's Movement Party(minor faction) |
| Headquarters | Aleea Modrogan, 1 Bucharest |
| Membership(2014) | 218,013[1] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-right[9][10] |
| National affiliation | Right Romania Alliance (2012) Christian Liberal Alliance (2014) |
| European affiliation | European People's Party |
| European Parliament group | European People's Party |
| International affiliation | Centrist Democrat International |
| Colours | Orange andBlue |
| Website | |
| pdl.org.ro (archived) | |
TheDemocratic Liberal Party (Romanian:Partidul Democrat-Liberal, PDL) was aliberal-conservative[2][3]political party in Romania. The party was formed on 15 December 2007, when theDemocratic Party (PD) merged with theLiberal Democratic Party (PLD). On 17 November 2014 the PDL officially merged into theNational Liberal Party (PNL), ceasing to exist.[11][12] The PDL was associated withTraian Băsescu, who was previously leader of the PD andPresident of Romania from 2004 to 2014.
The PDL traces its roots in theNational Salvation Front (FSN), the governing body which, under the leadership ofIon Iliescu, seized power during theRomanian Revolution of 1989 which ended the previous 42 year-long Communist regime in Romania.[13] Conflicts broke out between FSN leadersIon Iliescu andPetre Roman in early 1992, and this led to the separation of the Iliescu wing under the name ofDemocratic National Salvation Front (FDSN), which later became theSocial Democratic Party (PSD).[14]
In 1993, the FSN was renamedDemocratic Party (PD)[15] and distanced itself from itssocial-democratic roots to gradually become a centre-right party, whose ideology was transmitted to the PDL.
In advance of the2004 general election, the PD joined forces with theNational Liberal Party (PNL) to create theJustice and Truth Alliance (DA), whose main purpose was to oppose the governingSocial Democratic Party (PSD).
From mid 2005, the PD's relations with the PNL also became strained. On 15 December 2007, the PD merged into the newDemocratic Liberal Party (PDL) along with theLiberal Democratic Party (PLD), a splinter group from the PNL which was led byTheodor Stolojan. The PLD approved the merger in a party congress with 933 votes in favour, six abstentions, and one against.[16]
The PDL still kept thesocial-democratic rose as its symbol, as a memory of PD's left-wing past.[17][18][19]
At the2008 legislative election, the PDL won the most seats in chambers and formed a new government coalition with the PSD. The two parties fell out in 2009 and the government was replaced by another one including theDemocratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) and theNational Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR).
Later, in 2012, due tomassive street protests, Prime Minister Emil Boc resigned and president Traian Băsescu appointed the independent Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu, former SIE commander, to form a new cabinet which was invested by a vote in Parliament in February 2012. After a two-month parliamentary protest, the opposition managed to pass a motion of no confidence on the 5 May 2012, sending the PDL in opposition. When the government fell, Traian Băsescu consulted the parliamentary parties and decided to nominate PSD leaderVictor Ponta as Prime Minister.
On 10 June 2012,local elections were held in Romania. The PDL was able to win only two county council presidents (namely in the counties ofArad andAlba) and 10 major city mayors (Cluj-Napoca, Brașov, Arad, Suceava, Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Alba Iulia, Tulcea, Târgu Mureș, Piatra Neamț, and Târgoviște), which represented a crushing defeat, even if the party acquired 27% of Romania's mayors and almost 23% of the county and local councillors.
Because of these results, the then president of PDL, Emil Boc, resigned and called for an early National Convention (congress) of the party, which was held on the 30 June 2012. The Convention elected Vasile Blaga to become the new party president of the PDL and Gheorghe Flutur as secretary-general.
In the run to the parliamentary elections the PDL announced an alliance with theChristian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNȚ-CD) andCivic Force (FC) to form theRight Romania Alliance (ARD).[20] The alliance was dissolved on 9 December 2013.[21]
After Băsescu's break with the new president of PD-L,Vasile Blaga,[22] his supporters created thePeople's Movement Party (PMP) in June 2013.[23] Years later, 2020, Băsescu tried to rename PMP to Democratic-Liberal Party, but he couldn't get PNL's approval for this.[24][25] Basescu joked, saying that "the followers of theBrătianu family should remain in the PNL, andPetre Roman's followers should come to the PMP, alluding to theFSN-related past of the PD-L.[26]
In the2014 European elections, the PDL received 12.2% of the national vote and returned 5 MEPs.[27]
In late May 2014, the party agreed in principle to a future merger with theNational Liberal Party (PNL), and for the two parties to submit a joint candidate for the upcoming2014 presidential election.[28]
On 17 July 2014 it was announced that the new party formed from a future merger of the PDL and PNL would keep the National Liberal Party name, while being situated in the PDL's existing headquarters in Bucharest and would be registered by the end of 2014.[29] On 26 July 2014, a joint party congress of the PDL and PNL approved the merger.[30] On 28 July 2014 the PDL and PNL formed theChristian Liberal Alliance (ACL) to jointly contest the upcoming presidential election.[31][32] In the first round of the 2014 presidential election held on 2 November 2014, ACL candidateKlaus Iohannis received 30.4% of the vote, coming in second place behindVictor Ponta, the PSD candidate and incumbent Prime Minister.[33] In the runoff election held on 16 November 2014, Iohannis received 54.5% of the vote, becoming the surprise victory of the Romanian presidency.[34][35]
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The PDL's ideology is influenced byliberal conservatism andsocial conservatism. In this respect the party is a member of theEuropean People's Party (EPP) and theCentrist Democrat International (IDC–CDI).
The PDL supports a consolidation of the free market and is supportive of Romania'sflat-rate income tax of 16%. The party also supports reforming theRomanian Constitution in order to bring about a decentralisation in administration and give greater power to the country's eightdevelopment regions.
Shortly before the 2008 legislative election the PDL had 69 deputies, of which
| Nº | Name Born - Died | Portrait | Term start | Term end | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emil Boc (1966–) |  | 15 December 2007 | 30 June 2012 | 4 years, 6 months and 15 days |
| 2 | Vasile Blaga1 (1956–) | _(cropped).jpg) | 30 June 2012 | 17 November 2014 | 2 years, 4 months and 18 days |
| Election | Chamber | Senate | Position | Aftermath | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | |||
| 2008 | 2,312,358 | 33.57 | 115 / 334 | 2,228,860 | 32.36 | 51 / 137 | 1st | PDL-PSD government (2008–2009) |
| PDL-UNPR-UDMR government (2009–2012) | ||||||||
| Opposition toUSL government (2012) | ||||||||
| 2012 | 1,223,189 | 16.51 | 52 / 412 | 1,239,318 | 16.71 | 22 / 176 | 2nd (withinARD)1 | Opposition toUSL government (2012–2014) |
| Opposition toPSD-UNPR-UDMR-PC government (2014) | ||||||||
| Absorbed by theNational Liberal Party (November 2014) | ||||||||
Notes:
1Right Romania Alliance members: PDL,FC (1 senator and 3 deputies), andPNȚ-CD (1 senator and 1 deputy).
| Election | Candidate | First round | Second round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Percentage | Position | Votes | Percentage | Position | ||
| 2009 | Traian Băsescu | 3,153,640 | 32.4% | 1st | 5,275,808 | 50.3% | 1st |
| 2014 | Klaus Iohannis1 | 2,881,406 | 30.3% | 2nd | 6,288,769 | 54.4% | 1st |
Notes:
1Klaus Iohannis was a member of the PNL, but he was the candidate of theChristian Liberal Alliance (ACL); alliance members:PNL and PDL.
| Election | Votes | Percentage | Seats | Position | EU Party | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 1,438,000 | 29.7% | 10 / 33 | 2nd | EPP | EPP Group |
| 2014 | 680,853 | 12.2% | 5 / 32 | 3rd | EPP | EPP Group |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}:|author= has generic name (help)| National parties |
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