Pandemic populism: COVID-19 and the rise of the Nationalist AUR party in Romania

Abstract

Many Central and Eastern European countries elected nationalist parties after the collapse of communism: a phenomenon often attributed to a combination of socioeconomic crisis and political instability. In 2010s, after the decay of other nationalist parties, Romania was seen as an exception to this rule, but the Covid-19 pandemic times have witnessed the rapid rise of a new nationalist party: the AUR (the Alliance for the Union of Romanians). Parliamentary elections in December 2020 saw this new political force gain 9.1% of the vote. Whereas previous nationalist parties in post-Communist Romania tended to appeal to more senior/elderly voters, there is evidence that the AUR vote is strong amongst men under the age of 35 who are educated to an elementary or high school level. This paper uses national electoral data, media analysis, and in-depth interviews with young, educated people to explore the spatial distribution of AUR support, the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has assisted the party's rise to prominence, and attitudes amongst university students to both the style and content of their politics. The paper concludes that the AUR offer a potent mix of old nationalism, religious faith, traditional family values and new ideological elements, such as environmentalism, anti-globalization, and anti-government critique to create a self-consciously 'alternative' political rhetoric. This is presented via new channels (especially social media) in a deliberately opportunistic, controversial, and spectacular manner. However, our investigation suggests that neither the content nor the style of this politics has widespread appeal among the more educated younger participants to the interview.

Buying loyalty: Volatile voters and electoral clientelism

“…The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) was formed in September 2019 and got fourth in the 2020 national elections with more than 9% of the votes. It is a radical-right populist party with strong religious and nationalist rhetoric, similar to neo-Marxism, which sometimes capitalises on environmental issues (Doiciar and Creţan, 2021;Gherghina and Mişcoiu, 2022;Popescu and Vesalon, 2022). Among the small parties, the only continuous presence in the parliamentary arena is the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), which gets 6%-7% of the votes based on ethnic identity from counties with a sizeable Hungarian minority.…”

Populism and health. An evaluation of the effects of right-wing populism on the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil

“…Furthermore, the pandemic had multidimensional effects on national political systems. It affected voter turnout both positively and negatively, favored the rise in political relevance of extreme right-wing radical parties, as in the case of Romania, as well as undermining the political prospects of right-wing populist leaders like Donald Trump in the United States and Boris Johnson in the UK [15][16][17][18].…”

“…Mistrust of the ’mainstream’ political class and growing trust in religious leaders have grown globally [ 16 ]. For instance, Hungary and Poland are cases where the extreme right took power.…”

Pragma-rhetorical analysis to Covid-19 headlines

“…Among the main conclusion reached by them (ibid) is how Covid is going to increase social deprivation and poverty. Doiciar and Creţan (2021) also discussed pandemic populism; a political ideology and the rhetoric of politicians during the pandemic. Other studies focused more on the language of the pandemic.…”