Editing Politics of Romania (section)

=== 1992–1996 ===

[[File:Political_parties_in_Romania_after_1989_(2018).png|thumb|right|Flow chart depicting a detailed list of the political parties active in Romania since 1990, along with their afferent secessions and fusions/mergers.]]

The 1992 local, [[1992 Romanian general election|legislative]], and [[1992 Romanian general election|presidential]] elections indicated a major political rift between the [[List of cities and towns in Romania|urban centres]] and the countryside. Rural voters, grateful for the restoration of most agricultural land to farmers but fearful of change, strongly favored President Iliescu and the FDSN; the urban electorate favored the [[Romanian Democratic Convention|CDR]] (a coalition of several parties – the strongest of which were the PNŢCD and the PNL – and several other civic organizations as well) and quicker reform. Iliescu easily won re-election from a field of five other candidates, and the FDSN won a plurality/relative majority of seats in both chambers of the Romanian Parliament.

With the CDR, the second-largest parliamentary group, reluctant to participate in a national-unity coalition, the FDSN (now the [[Social Democratic Party (Romania)|PDSR]]) formed a government under prime minister and economist [[Nicolae Văcăroiu]] with parliamentary support on behalf of the nationalists [[Romanian National Unity Party]] (PUNR) and [[Greater Romania Party]] (PRM) as well as the extreme left-wing [[Socialist Party of Labour]] (PSM) led by former PCR Prime Minister [[Ilie Verdeț]]. The future coalition would be labeled by the press as the "[[Red Quadrilateral]]" (originally known in Romanian as ''Patrulaterul Roșu'').<ref>{{cite web|language=ro|url=https://adevarul.ro/news/politica/patrulaterul-rosu-seintoarce-1_545910960d133766a888fee5/index.html|title="Patrulaterul roşu" se întoarce|author=Sorin Bocancea|work=Adevărul|date=4 November 2014|accessdate=30 January 2022}}</ref>

In January 1994, the governing coalition's stability became problematic when the PUNR threatened to withdraw its support unless it received cabinet portfolios. After intense negotiations, two PUNR members received cabinet portfolios in the Văcăroiu government in August of the same year. The following month, the incumbent Justice Minister also joined the PUNR. Nevertheless, subsequently, the PRM and the PSM left the coalition in October and December 1995, respectively.