The political party that represents the Magyar community in Romania, the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSz, initialled in Hungarian) has once again demonstrated its power in the Parliamentary elections held on Sunday. The RMDSz has surpassed the 5% threshold which gives access to the lower chamber by having obtained 6.4% of the votes. The party barely exceeded its results from four years ago, when they had 0.2 points less of voters' support.

These results, to add on to the tied electoral results between both of the largest parties, includes the RMDSz in a possible position in the government, depending on how the negotiations evolve. The Magyar party had already been in the governing coalition during the last legislature with the Justice and Truth Alliance, the main party of which was the National Liberal Party (PNL), together with the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) and the Democratic Party (PD).

This time around the PNL has obtained 18% of the votes, and the PLD and the PD, which have come together this year to form the Liberal Democratic Party, have become the second party of the Parliament with 33% of the votes. The most voted party has been the alliance between the Social Democratic Party and the Conservative Party with a total of 34% votes. But one of the most surprising results of these elections has been the low turnout, which sums up to a total of 40%.

The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania is an autonomist party, which demands a greater self-rule as well as the official status for Hungarian languages in those territories where it is spoken. It is especially sensitive in respect to the minorities of the country, among which the Magyar are the most numerous (6.7% of the population, practically the same proportion of votes obtained by RMDSz in these elections). In Romania, there is an important presence of diverse groups: Hungarians, Italians, Albanians, Macedonians, Croatians, Armenians, Jewish, Germans, and Ukrainians, among others, who have up to eighteen representatives in Romania's Parliament, out of a total of 332.

Further Information:

• MónDivers: La minoria hongaresa de Romania continuarà al Parlament estatal
• Ips News: ROMANIA: Two Decades of Democracy Brings Disappointment
• Romania Libera (in Le Courrier des Balkans): Législatives en Roumanie : courte victoire des démocrates libéraux et abstention record
• Website of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania
• Election results and Parliament
• Nationalia:Two main Hungarian parties in Romania seek alliance to avoid exclusion from Parliament.