PNL and USR boycott Romanian Chamber over leadership deal with AUR and SOS

Parliamentary boycott and walkout

Deputies from the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Save Romania Union (USR) began a boycott of all parliamentary activities in Romania's Chamber of Deputies on 2 September 2026. The two groups left their seats vacant during the plenary session and withdrew from committee meetings, final votes, the Standing Bureau, and the leaders' committee. The protest followed a vote held one day earlier in which the Social Democratic Party (PSD) joined with the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) and S.O.S. Romania to alter the distribution of leadership positions in the chamber. PNL and USR announced that they will challenge the chamber's resolution at the Constitutional Court of Romania.

The parliamentary groups of PNL and USR in the Chamber of Deputies will carry out a protest today against the PSD-AUR-SOS governing alliance in relation to the abuses they began some time ago and finalized in recent days.

Reallocation of Standing Bureau positions

The conflict started during the opening plenary session of the parliamentary term on 1 September 2026, chaired by Natalia Intotero of the PSD. Under the resolution passed by the chamber, PNL and USR lost the secretary seats that had been allocated to them at the start of the legislature in December 2024. Those two secretary positions, designated for Raluca Turcan of the PNL and Oana Murariu of the USR, were reassigned to AUR and S.O.S. Romania. The revised structure allocated vice-presidencies to PSD, AUR, PNL, and USR, secretary positions to PSD, AUR, the national minorities group, and S.O.S. Romania, and quaestor seats to PSD, AUR, and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR).

All 16 UDMR deputies present voted alongside PSD, AUR, S.O.S. Romania, POT, and unaffiliated lawmakers to approve the list.

Legal disputes and political reactions

PNL group leader Gabriel Andronache argued that the vote violated Constitutional Court Decision 1490/2010, which assigns the authority to negotiate and renegotiate Standing Bureau positions to parliamentary group leaders rather than ad-hoc majorities. USR group leader Diana Stoica stated that the vote formalized a governing partnership between the PSD and nationalist groups, noting that over 120 days had passed since PSD and AUR voted together to remove the Bolojan government.

Over 120 days have passed since PSD and AUR brought down the Bolojan government. That was the beginning of this affair, which yesterday we saw formalized in the plenary of Parliament through the violation of the Constitution, through the violation of the regulations.

PSD deputy Alexandru Mihai Ghigiu, chairman of the Education Committee, rejected claims of a formal alliance, maintaining that the chamber's standing regulations permit group leaders representing the majority to adjust the rotation of mandates across the full legislative cycle. Ghigiu added that 28 PNL deputies signed the attendance register for their daily allowances despite not participating in plenary work.

Position of the UDMR and next steps

UDMR deputy leader Csoma Botond explained that his party backed the resolution to protect its single quaestor seat and maintain its chairmanships of the Foreign Policy Committee and the Industry Committee. Botond noted that party lawmakers learned of the agreement between the PSD, AUR, S.O.S. Romania, and the minorities group at the start of Tuesday's plenary, adding that the PNL and USR secretary seats were moved to the final parliamentary session of the legislative term rather than removed entirely. Both PNL and USR confirmed they will submit their legal challenge directly to the Constitutional Court.