Romanian National Unity Party

The Romanian National Unity Party (Romanian: Partidul Unităţii Naţionale a Românilor, PUNR) was a nationalist political party in Romania between 1990 and 2006.^[6]

Romanian National Unity Party Partidul Unității Națiunii Române
President	Mircea Chelaru
Founder	Gheorghe Funar
Founded	1990
Dissolved	2006
Merged into	Conservative Party
Ideology	1990-2002: Romanian ultranationalism[1] Christian right Neoliberalism[2] National conservatism Social conservatism Anti-Hungarian sentiment 2002-2006: Moderate nationalism Social liberalism[3] Christian democracy[4] Pro-Europeanism[5]
Political position	1990-2002: Right-wing to far-right 2002-2006: Center-right to right-wing
National affiliation	Red Pentagon (1992-1996)
Politics of Romania Political parties Elections

History

The PUNR was the first nationalist party in post-communist Romania, created in 1990, with Gheorghe Funar emerging as its leader. In the 1990 general elections the party ran as part of the Alliance for Romanian Unity (AUR) alongside the Republican Party (PR).^[7] The alliance received 2.1% of the Chamber of Deputies vote in the 1990 general elections, winning nine seats. It also received 2.2% of the Senate vote, winning two seats.^[8]

Funar went on to become mayor of Cluj-Napoca. In that office, he would promote Romanian national symbols, especially the blue, yellow and red flag, throughout the city. He was the party's candidate for president in the 1992 general elections, finishing third with 11% of the vote. In the parliamentary elections the PUNR emerged as the fourth-largest party in Parliament, winning 14 seats in the Senate and 30 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.

Funar was the party's presidential candidate again in the 1996 elections, but finished sixth in a field of 16 candidates, receiving only 3.2% of the vote. The PUNR also lost seats in Parliament, being reduced to seven Senate seats and 18 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. The party did not nominate a presidential candidate in the 2000 elections, which saw its vote share fall to just 1.4%, resulting in it failing to cross the electoral threshold, losing its parliamentary representation.

Its last leader was former General Mircea Chelaru. Under his leadership, the party became more moderate.^[9] On 12 February 2006, the PUNR was absorbed into the Conservative Party (PC).

Electoral history

Legislative elections

Election	Chamber			Senate			Position	Aftermath
	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
1990	290,875	2.12	9 / 395	300,473	2.15	2 / 119	6th  (within AUR)[a]	Support to FSN government (1990–1991)
								Support to FSN-PNL-MER-PDAR government (1991–1992)
1992	836,547	7.72	30 / 341	887,597	8.12	14 / 143	4th	PDSR-PUNR-PRM-PSM (1992–1996)
1996	533,384	4.36	18 / 343	518,962	4.22	7 / 143	6th	Opposition to CDR-USD-UDMR (1996–2000)
2000	149,525	1.38	0 / 345	154,761	1.42	0 / 140	9th	Extra-parliamentary support to PDSR minority government (2000–2004)
2004	53,222	0.52	0 / 332	56,414	0.55	0 / 137	10th	Extra-parliamentary support to DA-PUR-UDMR (2004–2007)

Notes:

1. AUR members: PUNR (all the mandates) and the Republican Party (no mandates).

Presidential elections

Election	Candidate	First round			Second round
		Votes	%	Position	Votes	Percentage	Position
1990	did not compete
1992	Gheorghe Funar	1,294,388	10.8	3rd
1996	Gheorghe Funar	407,828	3.2	6th
2000	did not compete
2004	did not compete

See also

• Democratic Agrarian Party of Romania
• Democratic National Salvation Front
• Greater Romania Party
• Romanian Hearth Union
• Social Democracy Party of Romania

References

1. Deletant, Dennis (1993). "Reviewed work: A Providential Anti-Semitism. Nationalism and Polity in Nineteenth-Century Romania, William O. Oldson; the Case of Romanian Intellectuals in the 1930s, Leon Volovici". The Slavonic and East European Review. 71 (3): 546–548. JSTOR 4211337.
2. https://www.agerpres.ro/documentare/2020/03/15/romania-post-revolutie-1990-infiintarea-partidului-unitatii-nationale-romane-punr--466648
3. "Generalul Chelaru este noul lider al PUNR". 13 May 2002.
4. "Monitorul Expres - Stiri Brasov".
5. "Monitorul Expres - Stiri Brasov".
6. Janusz Bugajski (1995). Ethnic Politics in Eastern Europe: A Guide to Nationality Policies, Organizations, and Parties. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 466–. ISBN 978-0-7656-1911-2.
7. 1990 Parliamentary Elections: Chamber of Deputies Archived 2003-01-07 at the Wayback Machine University of Essex
8. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, pp1599–1600 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
9. "Monitorul Expres - Stiri Brasov".