Background and founding The Alliance for the Union of Romanians was formally established on 19 September 2019. Later, during the
Great Union Day of
Romania on 1 December 2019, its leader,
George Simion, said the party's aims were to participate in the
2020 Romanian local and
legislative elections of the country. Simion had up to this point been a campaigner for the
unification of Romania and the Republic of Moldova.
Claudiu Târziu, who was co-president of the party along Simion until 27 March 2022, was a member of the
Coalition for Family which unsuccessfully campaigned to ban gay marriage through constitutional change in a
2018 referendum. On 26 June 2020, AUR condemned the disinterest of the Romanian authorities regarding the
minority rights of the
Romanians in
Serbia and Ukraine and declared that it would fully support them once it entered the
Romanian Parliament. Two days later, AUR also condemned the 80th anniversary of the
annexation of
Bessarabia,
Northern Bukovina, and the
Hertsa region by the
Soviet Union, declaring that "it is our obligation to regain our state". By July 2020, AUR counted 22 branches in Europe and North America for the
Romanian diaspora. The first of these was established in
Wolverhampton, in the United Kingdom. AUR was the only party in Romania that expressed support for
Donald Trump in the lead-up to the
2020 United States presidential election. During the
2020 Romanian local elections on 27 September, AUR won the
mayoralty in three towns:
Amara,
Pufești, and
Valea Lungă.
Election to Parliament and first legislature (2020–2024) In the 2020 Romanian legislative election, AUR obtained a high percentage of the votes, being called as the "surprise" of Romania. The results also increased the popularity of the party on the
Internet. Many members of the
Romanian Orthodox Church campaigned for the AUR during the 2020 Romanian legislative election. The party came first among
Romanians in Italy, the largest group of the Romanian diaspora, and ran a close second among
Romanians in France and
Romanians in Spain. It also scored first in
Cyprus. AUR's candidate for prime minister was
Călin Georgescu, who worked for the
United Nations for 17 years. According to a statement released by AUR on 8 December 2020, 15,000 Romanians joined the party in just 24 hours. The party got 47 MPs in the 2020–2024 Romanian legislature. The party achieved good results in rural areas of
Moldavia and
Dobruja, areas traditionally dominated by the other big parties. Its most significant percentages were in the counties where the
Romanian Orthodox Church has a strong influence and a large number of practicing believers. These are
Suceava (14.72%),
Botoșani (14.62%),
Neamț (14.4%),
Constanța (14.2%), and
Vrancea (13.43%). The party speculated the new communication channels (social networks) in a similar way to the
Greater Romania Party (PRM) of the late 1990s - early 2000s, which used the newspaper "România Mare" (
Greater Romania) as a communication channel, reaching high electoral scores. Another example is the
People's Party – Dan Diaconescu (PP-DD), which was propelled with the help of the
OTV television channel. Simion announced on 15 March 2021 that the AUR had intentions to start operating in the
Republic of Moldova on the occasion of the
Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania celebrated every 27 March. The party was officially launched, as previously stated, on 27 March 2021, and the elected president of the party was Vlad Bilețchi, a renowned Moldovan unionist. This new section of the AUR in Moldova later participated in the
Moldovan snap parliamentary elections of 11 July 2021. On 2 October 2021, AUR organised a 15,000–20,000 people-strong protest against
COVID-19 restrictions at the
Victory Square in Bucharest, drawing both national and international attention and being the most attended protest in Romania since the start of the pandemic. On 5 October 2021, a
motion of no confidence initiated by AUR, but legally proposed by PSD, was passed with 281 votes, thus dismissing the
Cîțu Cabinet. On 27 March 2022, AUR held its first party congress at the
Palace of the Parliament. On it, it was intended to elect the party's president. There were two candidates, Simion and Dănuț Aelenei, AUR deputy in the Constanța County. Aelenei claimed to have nominated himself with the simple intention of showing that AUR was a democratic party and that he did not intend to "expel" Simion from the party, admitting that he was less well-known compared to him. 784 voted for Simion and 38 for Aelenei, making Simion the party's sole president after having previously shared leadership with Târziu, who became president of the party's CNC. On 29 January 2023,
Ramona-Ioana Bruynseels, a former candidate for the
Humanist Power Party in the
2019 presidential election, joined AUR. On 14 November 2023, at an AUR press conference,
Lidia Vadim-Tudor (the daughter of the late
Corneliu Vadim Tudor), former Minister for Business Environment
Ilan Laufer (who is also the president of the
National Identity Force), businessman
Muhammad Murad, entrepreneur
Sorin Constantinescu and
Sorin Ilieșiu, as well as deputies
Florică Calotă (who was elected on PNL list),
Daniel Forea (elected on PSD list),
Dumitru Viorel Focșa (elected on AUR, but later left) and senators
Ovidiu Iosif Florean (elected on PNL list),
Călin Gheorghe Matieș (elected on PSD list) and
Vasilică Potecă (elected on PNL list) announced that they are joining AUR for the next election. Later, on 21 November, AUR announced, together with the
Romanian Village Party,
National Rebirth Alliance,
Romanian Republican Party and
National Peasants' Alliance the creation of a Sovereigntist Alliance to contest the
2024 Romanian parliamentary election. On 2 April 2024,
Mihail Neamțu, former leader of the
New Republic party, joined AUR. In the
2024 European Parliament Election, AUR gained five seats in the EU Parliament, with a total of 6 seats, receiving 14.9% of the total votes. AUR previously held only 1 seat in the European Parliament. In the party's first
local elections on 9 June 2024, AUR gained 10.7% for county councils and 9.5% for local councils
. Presidential elections and second legislature (2024–present) In the first round of the
2024 Romanian presidential election on 24 November, Simion received 13.9% of the vote, not preceding to the planned runoff on 8 December. However, the runoff was never held as due to
accusations of Russian interference in favour of first round winner
Călin Georgescu. In the
2024 parliamentary election a week later, AUR received 18% of the vote, becoming the second largest party in both houses of the Romanian Parliament. The aftermath of the first presidential vote was controversial and led
Romania to the brink of a political crisis, with AUR aligning itself with Georgescu, arranging
protests in his favour. Simion won the first round of the
2025 presidential election on 4 May with 41% of the vote, losing the runoff on 18 May to Independent candidate
Nicușor Dan with 46.4% against Dan's 53.6%. In early June, geopolitician
Dan Dungaciu, lawyer
Silvia Uscov and former
SOS member joined AUR. ==Ideology==