General elections were held in Romania on 28 November 2004, with a second round of the presidential elections on 12 December between former Prime Minister Adrian Năstase of the then ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) and then incumbent Bucharest Mayor Traian Băsescu of the opposition Justice and Truth Alliance (DA), more specifically of the Democratic Party (PD). Băsescu was elected President by a narrow majority of just 51.2%.^[1] The 2004 presidential election was the fifth of its kind held in post-1989 Romania.

Quick Facts Turnout, Nominee ...

2004 Romanian general election

Presidential election
← 2000 28 November 2004 (first round) 12 December 2004 (second round) 2009 →
Turnout	58.49% (first round) 55.21% (second round)
Nominee Traian Băsescu Adrian Năstase Party PD PSD Alliance DA PSD+PUR Popular vote 5,126,794 4,881,520 Percentage 51.23% 48.77%
First round results Second round results Băsescu:   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70% Năstase:   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80% Markó:   30–40%   60–70%   70–80%
President before election Ion Iliescu PSD Elected President Traian Băsescu PD
Parliamentary election
← 2000 28 November 2004 2008 →
All 137 seats in the Senate All 332 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
Turnout	58.47%
Party Leader % Seats +/– Chamber of Deputies PSD+PUR Adrian Năstase 36.61 132 −23 DA Traian Băsescu Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu 31.33 112 +51 PRM Corneliu Vadim Tudor 12.92 48 −36 UDMR Béla Markó 6.17 22 −5 Minority parties Varujan Pambuccian[lower-alpha 1] 2.17 18 0 Senate PSD+PUR Adrian Năstase 37.13 57 −8 DA Traian Băsescu Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu 31.77 49 +23 PRM Corneliu Vadim Tudor 13.63 21 −16 UDMR Béla Markó 6.23 10 −2 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 Adrian Năstase PSD Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu PNL (DA)

Close

Following 2003 amendments to the constitution which lengthened the presidential term to five years, these were the last joint elections to the presidency and Parliament in Romania's political history thus far.

The opposition alleged fraudulent use by the PSD of "supplementary lists", designed to help Romanians in transit to vote. Traditionally, Romanians voted with a cardboard identity card, which was stamped when they voted. Most Romanians now have laminated plastic IDs, to which a printed stamp is affixed when a person votes. However, the stamps can be easily removed. In spite of this, electoral fraud is nearly impossible to commit, as every citizen is assigned to one local voting station, the only location he/she can vote at.

The opposition claimed that there were organized "electoral excursions" of PSD supporters who were bussed to various towns to vote several times. This was corroborated by several teams of journalists, who followed the buses.

The government attacked the opposition by arguing that 'rumours of fraud' affect Romania's economy and its external credibility.

In January 2005, the IMAS institute of statistics released an analysis of the voting results in the 16,824 precincts. In the top 1,000 precincts with the most votes on the supplementary lists, the PSD had 43% to the DA's 23%, while in the precincts with fewest votes on supplementary lists, the PSD had 30% to the DA's 34%. The same trend was true in the precincts with most void votes. Wayback Machine

On 13 December, the PUR president Dan Voiculescu hinted that they have more in common with the DA (both have a center-right orientation) and that they might break from the PSD, but one day later said that he would remain with PSD. It has been suggested by the press that this could be result of a blackmail about his communist past. By 25 December both UDMR and PUR signed a protocol of alliance with DA (Justice and Truth), with the designated prime minister being Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu. Thus, the PSD was left in opposition while Justice and Truth Alliance (DA), the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), and the Humanist Party (PUR, renamed Conservative Party in 2005) formed the government.