Force of the Right

Force of the Right (Romanian: Forța Dreptei, FD), sometimes translated as Right's Force or Right Force, is a liberal-conservative political party in Romania founded in December 2021 by Ludovic Orban, former National Liberal Party (PNL) president and former Prime Minister of Romania between 2019 and 2020, in opposition to the current leadership of the PNL which is currently officially led by Nicolae Ciucă and unofficially by Klaus Iohannis.^[a][15]

Force of the Right Forța Dreptei
Abbreviation	FD
President	Ludovic Orban
Spokesman	Ionel Dancă
Leader in the Chamber of Deputies	Violeta Alexandru[1]
Founded	14 December 2021
Split from	National Liberal Party (PNL)
Membership	~20,000 [2]
Ideology	Liberal conservatism[3] Christian democracy[4] Nationalism[7] Right-wing populism[8] Pro-Europeanism[9]
Political position	Centre-right[10] to right-wing[11]
National affiliation	United Right Alliance (2023-2024) Alliance of Liberal-Conservative Right Forces (since September 2024)
European affiliation	European People's Party (intention)
Colours	Green
Slogan	Prin noi înșine! ("Through Ourselves!")
Senate	1 / 136
Chamber of Deputies	13 / 330
County councilors	17 / 1,338
Website
forta-dreptei.ro
Politics of Romania Political parties Elections

History

On 3 October 2021, former Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, who had been previously defeated for the leadership of the National Liberal Party (PNL) by Florin Cîțu at the PNL congress held in September 2021 at Romexpo in Bucharest, stated that he is willing "to create a new political construction which would be ready to continue PNL's legacy".^[16] In this regard, Orban was walking in the steps of another former PNL Prime Minister, more specifically Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, who left the PNL earlier in 2015 (also in opposition to Iohannis) in order to establish the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE).

Furthermore, commentators claimed Orban's faction was going to party ways with the PNL should he not be designated PM after Florin Cîțu's dismissal by the Parliament, which also happened in the meantime along with the nominations of former PM Dacian Cioloș of Save Romania Union (USR) and Nicolae Ciucă of PNL proper (the latter serving as acting PM between Orban's and Cîțu's premierships/terms).^[17][18]

By 2 November 2021, Orban together with 14 other parliamentarians left the PNL parliamentary group.^[19] In response, the current leadership of the PNL announced its intention to exclude from the party everyone taking this move, emphasizing that "the door of PNL is closed to those who make fun of PNL".^[20][21] On 12 November 2021, the current leadership of the PNL expelled Orban at the proposal of Dan Vîlceanu, a supporter of Florin Cîțu.^[22] By 23 November 2021, the pro-Orban parliamentarians who left the PNL parliamentary group left the party itself as well,^[23] being followed in this move by the entirety of the National Liberal Youth (the PNL's youth wing)'s Sector 3 branch on 27 November 2021.^[24] Orban said that he rejects all neo-Marxist-progressive currents, and that the new party will be liberal conservative.^[25][26]

Originally, the party was going to be named the Liberal Force (Romanian: Forța Liberală, FL).^[15] On 14 December 2021, Orban submitted the documents necessary in order to establish the new party, which was then going to be named after the name of his motion used to run for a second term as PNL president at the September 2021 PNL congress, more specifically the Right's Force/Force of the Right, that will be "valid until the [first] congress of the party".^[27] Orban said the Force of the Right is a pro-European party, which is not anti-establishment, and which wants to join the European People's Party (EPP).^[28] In February 2022, the parliamentary group of right-wing deputies was established to represent FD in the Chamber of Deputies, with Violeta Alexandru as its leader.^[1]

On 14 December 2023, Save Romania Union, Force of the Right and the People's Movement Party officially announced the creation of a right-wing electoral alliance to contest in the 2024 elections.^[29] On 18 December, the alliance was formally named as United Right Alliance.^[30]

Leadership

  Also served as Minister of Transport between 2007 and 2008 in the Second Tăriceanu cabinet, Prime Minister between 2019 and 2020, and President of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania between 2020 and 2021 (as well as president of the National Liberal Party between 2017 and 2021)

Nº	Name Born - Died	Portrait	Term start	Term end	Duration
1	Ludovic Orban (1963–)		December 2021	present	Incumbent

Electoral history

Legislative elections

Election	Chamber			Senate			Position	Aftermath
	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
2020	did not exist1	16 / 330	did not exist	3 / 136	—	PNL-USR PLUS-UDMR government (2020–2021)
						Opposition to PNL-UDMR minority government (2021)
						Opposition to CNR government (2021–present)
2024	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD

Notes

¹ The MPs were elected on PNL's electoral list (3 additional ones who subsequently joined the group through party switching in the Chamber of Deputies were initially elected on AUR's list). Initially, there were 14 MPs representing the FD in the Chamber of Deputies but one left their parliamentary group before the arrival of the aforementioned 3 party switchers from AUR.

Presidential elections

Election	Candidate	First round			Second round
		Votes	Percentage	Position	Votes	Percentage	Position
2024	Ludovic Orban	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD

European elections

Election	Votes	%	MEPs	Position	EU Party
2024	778,901	8.71	0 / 33	3rd 1	EPP

Note:
¹ADU members: USR (2 MEPs), PMP (1 MEP) and FD (no mandates).

See also

• List of political parties in Romania

Notes

1. Article 84 of the Constitution of Romania forbids the President from being a member of a political party.^[12] Officially, Iohannis led PNL from 28 June to 18 December 2014, when he suspended his party membership in order to serve as President of Romania, as per the Romanian law.^[13][14]

References

1. Apariție nouă în Parlamentul României. Partidul care își înființează grup la Camera Deputaților
2. "Ludovic Orban: "PNL este vasalul PSD!" Forța Dreptei vrea 15 primării în Vâlcea, printre care Râmnicu Vâlcea, Drăgășani și Băbeni". 26 November 2023.
3. "Orban apasă pedala discursului conservator în PNL. Ce spun specialiştii despre poziţionările celor doi candidaţi la şefia partidului". 5 July 2021.
4. "Ludovic Orban anunță un nou partid bazat pe ideologia liberală și valorile creștine". G4 Media. 12 November 2021.
5. "Sondaj: Românii sunt înclinaţi între social-democraţie şi naţionalism. Liberalismul este în declin după 20 ani de preşedinţi liberali".
6. "La taclale cu Vlasti: Progresiști, naționaliști, nou-liberali sau cine contestă mainstreamul".
7. ^[5][6]
8. "Intenția de vot: Cât de mult a crescut național-populismul?". 2 February 2022.
9. "Ludovic Orban, mesaj de Ziua Europei: Din momentul în care am devenit membri ai UE, România a mers înainte constant și viața românilor a fost din ce în ce mai bună". 9 May 2021.
10. "Orban a anunţat înfiinţarea unui nou partid: Forţa Dreptei. Ce doctrină va avea noul partid".
11. "Orban a apasat pedala discursului conservator". 5 July 2021.
12. Article 84, Section 1 of the Constitution of Romania (2003)
13. "Klaus Iohannis, noul PREȘEDINTE al PNL: "Invit în partid pe cei care au crezut că le va fi mai bine afară"". Mediafax.
14. "Iohannis: Mi-am anunțat demisia din PNL. Mulțumesc pentru că am avut onoarea să fiu președintele PNL". Mediafax.
15. Alin Bratu (13 October 2021). "Noul partid al lui Ludovic Orban s-ar putea numi Forța Liberală – surse". G4 Media. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
16. "Orban amenință că își face partid: Sunt gata să creez o construcție care să continue trecutul PNL". Digi24. 3 October 2021. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
17. "Președintele Iohannis îl propune pe Dacian Cioloș pentru funcția de premier, după consultările cu partidele". Știrile Pro TV. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
18. "Consultări la Cotroceni. Iohannis: "Am decis să-l desemnez drept candidat pentru funcția de prim-ministru pe Nicolae Ciucă"". Digi24 (in Romanian). 21 October 2021. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
19. "Numărul parlamentarilor care au plecat din grupul PNL a urcat la 15. Senatorul Ion Iordache, ultimul care a urmat exemplul lui Ludovic Orban". HotNews. 2 November 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
20. "Roman cere excluderea liberalilor care şi-au dat demisia din grupul parlamentar: "A mai încercat şi Tăriceanu să rupă PNL. Acum nu mai există politic"". Adevărul. 28 October 2021. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
21. "Deputatul Ionel Dancă a demisionat din grupul parlamentar liberal: Noua conducere a PNL, în parteneriat cu preşedintele Iohannis, au aruncat ţara în haos și au distrus coaliţia de guvernare / PNL merge în genunchi, cerşind sprijin la PSD cu căciula în mână". G4 Media. 28 October 2021. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
22. "Biroul Executiv al PNL a votat excluderea lui Ludovic Orban din partid. "Sunt liber să construiesc o nouă forță politică"". Digi24. 12 November 2021.
23. Ruptură în PNL. Orban şi alţi 16 liberali au demisionat din partid: Demisia este un început. Vom începe o construcţie solidă | VIDEO
24. "Coadă la depunerea demisiilor din PNL: o întreagă organizație pleacă din partid". stiripesurse.ro. 27 November 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-27.
25. "Ludovic Orban: "PNL respinge toate curentele neo-marxist-progresiste. Moţiunea mea este una liberal-conservatoare"". 19 August 2021.
26. "BREAKING Ludovic Orban: Îmi voi da demisia din PNL și voi continua să-i reprezint pe românii care cred cu adevărat într-un proiect bazat pe valori liberale, creștin-democrate, conservatoare". G4 Media. 22 November 2021.
27. Ludovic Orban și-a înființat un nou partid. Cum se va numi noua formațiune politică
28. "Ludovic Orban (Forța Dreptei): Vrem să ne afiliem la PPE. Nu suntem un partid antisistem, eu cred în proiectul european". 27 December 2021.
29. "SURSE: USR, PMP și Forța Dreptei au bătut palma și lansează Polul de Dreapta, o alianță pentru alegerile din 2024". 14 December 2023.
30. "Drulă, Orban și Tomac au lansat Alianța Dreapta Unită. S-au împărțit deja locurile eligibile de pe listele pentru europarlamentare". 18 December 2023.