President of Romania

The President of Romania is the head of state of Romania. The President is directly elected by a two-round system for a five-year term (since 2004, after the Constitution was modified in 2003). He or she can serve two terms. During his term in office, the President must not be a member of any political party.

Klaus Iohannis, President of Romania since 2014

History

From top to bottom, Presidents Ion Iliescu, Emil Constantinescu, Traian Băsescu and Klaus Iohannis.

In 1947, the Romanian People's Republic was founded after the Kingdom of Romania was dissolved. Although Constantin Ion Parhon was made chairman, the government was ran by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, head of the Romanian Communist Party. After Dej's death in 1965, he was replaced by Nicolae Ceaușescu, who declared himself president in 1974. Ceaușescu kept his people under a totalitarian, stalinist dictatorship (similarly to Kim Il-Sung's North Korea), and, after a revolution in December 1989, Ceaușescu was executed on the 25th of December, 1989. He was replaced by Ion Iliescu, who made democratic reforms and founded Romania in its current form. The 1990 and 1991 Mineriads gave Iliescu a negative reputation, and rumors of the 1990 Elections being faked isolated Romania. Following the 1996 Elections, Emil Constantinescu (CDR) became president, whose mandate was marked by Inflation. In the 2000 Elections, far-right candidate Corneliu Vadim Tudor (PRM) won second place, but former president Ion Iliescu (PSD) was reelected. In the 2004 Elections, Traian Băsescu (PDL) barely edged out then prime-minister Adrian Năstase (PSD), a scenario which would happen agian 5 years later with PSD candidate Mircea Geoană. In 2007, Romania joined the European Union. Great turmoil started in Romania in 2012, following a refferendum to impeach Traian Băsescu, but ended in 2015, during the first mandate of president Klaus Iohannis (PNL), after the resignation of prime-minister Victor Ponta.

List of presidents of Romania (1947-present)

Peoples Republic Romania (1947-1965) Socialist Republic of Romania (1965-1989)

Chairman of the Presidium of the Romanian People's Republic

Name	Term start	Term end	Political party
Constantin Parhon	30 December 1947	13 April 1948	Romanian Communist Party

Chairman of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly

Name	Term start	Term end	Political party
Constantin Parhon	13 April 1948	2 June 1952	Romanian Workers' Party
Petru Groza	3 June 1952	7 January 1958	Romanian Workers' Party
+ Mihail Sadoveanu (acting)	7 January 1958	11 January 1958	Romanian Workers' Party
+ Anton Moisescu (acting)	7 January 1958	11 January 1958	Romanian Workers' Party
Ion Gheorghe Maurer	11 January 1958	21 March 1961	Romanian Workers' Party

Presidents of the Council of State

Name	Term start	Term end	Political party
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej	21 March 1961	19 March 1965	Romanian Workers' Party
+ Ion Gheorghe Maurer (acting)	19 March 1965	24 March 1965	Romanian Workers' Party
+ Ştefan Voitec (acting)	19 March 1965	24 March 1965	Romanian Workers' Party
+ Avram Bunaciu (acting)	19 March 1965	24 March 1965	Romanian Workers' Party
Chivu Stoica	24 March 1965	9 December 1967	Romanian Workers' Party (until 1965), Romanian Communist Party (since 1965)
Nicolae Ceauşescu	9 December 1967	28 March 1974	Romanian Communist Party

President

Name	Term start	Term end	Political party
Nicolae Ceauşescu	28 March 1974	22 December 1989 (deposed in Romanian Revolution)	Romanian Communist Party

Romania (1989-present)

The title is "President of Romania" (Romanian: Preşedintele României). Article 84 of the Romanian Constitution forbids the President to be member of any political party during his (or her) term (only).

Name	Term start	Term end
Council of the National Salvation Front	22 December 1989	26 December 1989
Ion Iliescu (1st time) (President of the Council of the National Salvation Front until 13 February 1990; President of the Provisional National Unity Council from 13 February 1990)	26 December 1989	20 June 1990
Ion Iliescu (2nd time)	20 June 1990	11 October 1992
Ion Iliescu (3rd time)	11 October 1992	29 November 1996
Emil Constantinescu	29 November 1996	20 December 2000
Ion Iliescu (4th time)	20 December 2000	20 December 2004
Traian Băsescu	20 December 2004	19 April 2007 (suspended)
Nicolae Văcăroiu (ad interim)	20 April 2007	23 May 2007
Traian Băsescu	23 May 2007 (resumed office)	9 July 2012
Crin Antonescu (ad interim)	10 July 2012	28 August 2012
Traian Băsescu	28 August 2012 (resumed office)	21 December 2014
Klaus Iohannis	21 December 2014	Present