1996 Romanian general election

Presidential election
3 November 1996 (first round) 17 November 1996 (second round)
Turnout	76.01% (first round) 75.90% (second round)
Nominee Emil Constantinescu Ion Iliescu Party PNȚCD PDSR Alliance CDR Popular vote 7,057,906 5,914,579 Percentage 54.41% 45.59%
Constantinescu   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   >90% Iliescu   50–60%   60–70%
President before election Ion Iliescu FDSN Elected President Emil Constantinescu CDR
Parliamentary election
3 November 1996
All 143 seats in the Senate All 343 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
Party Leader % Seats +/– Chamber of Deputies CDR Emil Constantinescu 30.17 122 +40 PDSR Ion Iliescu 21.52 91 −26 USD Petre Roman 12.93 53 +10 UDMR Béla Markó 6.64 27 −2 PRM Corneliu Vadim Tudor 4.46 19 +3 PUNR Gheorghe Funar 4.36 18 −12 Minority parties 1.67 15 +2 Senate CDR Emil Constantinescu 30.70 53 +19 PDSR Ion Iliescu 23.08 41 −8 USD Petre Roman 13.16 23 +5 UDMR Béla Markó 6.82 11 −1 PRM Corneliu Vadim Tudor 4.54 8 +2 PUNR Gheorghe Funar 4.22 7 −7 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Results for the Chamber of Deputies and Senate Prime Minister before Prime Minister-designate Nicolae Văcăroiu PDSR Victor Ciorbea PNȚCD (CDR)

General elections were held in Romania on 3 November 1996, with a second round of the presidential election on 17 November.^[1]

Opinion polls prior to the elections suggested incumbent President Ion Iliescu of the Social Democracy Party of Romania (PDSR, formerly the Democratic National Salvation Front) would win a third term, though it was believed a large field of candidates would push him into a runoff.^[2] Iliescu received the most votes in the first round, just ahead of his 1992 run-off opponent, Emil Constantinescu of the Romanian Democratic Convention (CDR).

In the second round, Constantinescu defeated Iliescu with 54 percent of the vote. Iliescu conceded defeat soon after the polls closed.^[3] Constantinescu took office on 29 November, marking the first peaceful transfer of power since the fall of communism. To date, it is the only time since the introduction of direct presidential elections that an incumbent Romanian president has been defeated when running for re-election. The 1996 Romanian presidential election was the third of its kind held in post-1989 Romania.

The CDR, a broad coalition of parties opposing the governing centre-left PDSR, also emerged as the largest bloc in Parliament, winning 122 of the 343 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 53 of the 143 seats in the Senate.

Presidential candidates

Name	Lifespan	Public Administration Experience	Affiliation and endorsements	Alma mater and profession	Candidacy Announcement dates
Emil Constantinescu	Born: 19 November 1939 (age 56) Tighina (de jure, Republic of Moldova; de facto Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic)	Rector of University of Bucharest (1992–election day) Former presidential election: 1992: 31.1% (2nd place, 1st round), 38.6% (2nd place, 2nd round)	Affiliation: CDR	Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest (1960) Faculty of Geology, University of Bucharest (1966) geology professor
Ion Iliescu	Born: 3 March 1930 (age 66) Oltenița, Călărași County	President of Romania (1989–election day) President of Water Surfaces Management Council (1979–1984) Member of the State Council (full member: 1979–1980, observative: 1974–1979) President of Iași County Council (1974–1979) Vice-President of Timiș County Council (1971–1974) Minister of Youth (1967–1971) Deputy (1957–1961, 1965–1973, 1975–1985) Former presidential elections: 1992: 47.2% (1st place, 1st round), 61.4% (winner, 2nd round) 1990: 85.1% (winner)	Affiliation: PDSR	Energy Institute, Moscow State University (1954) fluid mechanics engineer, publishing house manager
Petre Roman	Born: 22 July 1946 (age 50) Bucharest	Deputy (1990–election day) Prime Minister of Romania (1989–1991)	Affiliation: Social Democratic Union Alliance members: PD and PSDR	Faculty of Energy, Politehnica University of Bucharest (1968) hydroelectric powerplant engineer
György Frunda	Born: 22 July 1951 (age 45) Târgu Mureș, Mureș County	Senator (1992–election day)	Affiliation: UDMR	Faculty of Law, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca (1974) lawyer
Corneliu Vadim Tudor	Born: 28 November 1949 (age 46) Bucharest Died 14 September 2015, Bucharest	Senator (1992–election day)	Affiliation: PRM	Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest (1971) journalist, writer
Gheorghe Funar	Born: 29 September 1949 (age 47) Sânnicolau Mare, Timiș County	Mayor of Cluj-Napoca (1992–election day) Former presidential election: 1992: 10.8% (3rd place, 1st round)	Affiliation: PUNR	Faculty of Economics and Business Management, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca (unknown year) economist
Tudor Mohora	Born: 6 October 1950 (age 46) Bogdana, Teleorman County	Deputy (1992–election day)	Affiliation: Socialist Party	Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest (1974) chemistry teacher
Nicolae Manolescu	Born: 27 November 1939 (age 56) Râmnicu Vâlcea, Vâlcea County	Senator (1992–election day)	Affiliation: National Liberal Alliance	Faculty of Philology, University of Bucharest (1962) writer, book critic
Adrian Păunescu	Born: 20 July 1943 (age 53) Copăceni, Sîngerei District, Republic of Moldova Died 5 October 2010, Bucharest	Senator (1992–election day)	Affiliation: PSM	Faculty of Philology, University of Bucharest (1968) poet
Ioan Pop de Popa	Born: 6 October 1927 (age 69) Oradea, Bihor County	Deputy (1965–1973)	Affiliation: Center National Union	Faculty of Medicine, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca (1952) cardiologist
George Muntean	Born: 17 November 1932 (age 63) Bilca, Suceava County		Affiliation: Retirees Party	Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest (1959) historian, journalist
Radu Câmpeanu	Born: 28 February 1922 (age 74), Bucharest Died 19 October 2016, Bucharest	Former presidential election: 1990: 10.6% (2nd place)	Affiliation: National Liberal-Ecologist Alliance	Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest (1945) Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Bucharest (1947) economist
Nuțu Anghelina	Born: 16 April 1956 (age 40) Buhuși, Bacău County		Affiliation: none	Faculty of Orthodox Theology, unknown university (1986) orthodox priest
Constantin Mudava	Born: 8 April 1935 (age 61) Ghirdoveni, Dâmbovița County Died 1 November 2018, Târgoviște		Affiliation: none	unknown education holistic healer
Constantin Niculescu	Born: 18 May 1940 (age 56) Râmnicu Vâlcea, Vâlcea County		Affiliation: National Party of Motorists	Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Transilvania University of Brașov (1960) mechanical engineer
Nicolae Militaru	Born: 10 November 1925 (age 70) Bălești, Gorj County Died 27 December 1996, Bucharest	Minister of Defence (1989–1990) Deputy Minister for Industrial Constructions (1978–1984) Deputy (1969–1975)	Affiliation: none	Frunze Military Academy, Moscow (unknown year) military

Results

President

Presidential election – First round

Presidential election – Second round

Petre Roman, György Frunda, Gheorghe Funar, and Nicolae Manolescu openly endorsed Constantinescu in the second round. Corneliu Vadim Tudor, Tudor Mohora, and Adrian Păunescu openly endorsed Iliescu.

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Emil Constantinescu	Romanian Democratic Convention	3,569,941	28.21	7,057,906	54.41
	Ion Iliescu	Party of Social Democracy in Romania	4,081,093	32.25	5,914,579	45.59
	Petre Roman	Democratic Party	2,598,545	20.54
	György Frunda	Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania	761,411	6.02
	Corneliu Vadim Tudor	Greater Romania Party	597,508	4.72
	Gheorghe Funar	Romanian National Unity Party	407,828	3.22
	Tudor Mohora	Socialist Party	160,387	1.27
	Nicolae Manolescu	National Liberal Alliance	90,122	0.71
	Adrian Păunescu	Socialist Party of Labour	87,163	0.69
	Ion Pop de Popa	Humanist Party	59,752	0.47
	George Muntean	Independent	54,218	0.43
	Radu Câmpeanu	National Liberal Ecologist Alliance	43,780	0.35
	Nuțu Anghelina	Independent	43,319	0.34
	Constantin Mudava	Independent	39,477	0.31
	Constantin Niculescu	National Party of Drivers	30,045	0.24
	Nicolae Militaru	Independent	28,318	0.22
Total			12,652,907	100.00	12,972,485	100.00
Valid votes			12,652,907	96.67	12,972,485	99.19
Invalid/blank votes			435,481	3.33	106,398	0.81
Total votes			13,088,388	100.00	13,078,883	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			17,218,654	76.01	17,230,654	75.90
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

• 
  Ion Iliescu
• 
  Emil Constantinescu
• 
  Petre Roman
• 
  György Frunda
• 
  Corneliu Vadim Tudor

References