Romanian National Party

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the now dissolved Austro-Hungarian and later Romanian party. For the Moldovan party formerly known as the Romanian National Party, see New Historical Option.
Romanian National Party
Partidul Național Român
Founded12 May 1881
Dissolved10 October 1926
Merged into
Radicalism
Liberal conservatism
Romanian nationalism
Political positionCentre-right

The Romanian National Party (

Transleithanian half of Austria-Hungary, and especially to those in Transylvania and Banat. After the end of World War I, it became one of the main parties in Romania, and formed the government with Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
between November 1919 and March 1920.

History

In Austria-Hungary

The party was formed on May 12, 1881 as the union of the National Party of Romanians in Transylvania (Partidul Național al Românilor din Transilvania) and the National Party of Romanians in Banat and Hungary (Partidul Național al Românilor din Banat și Ungaria), both created in 1869 (two years after the

Transylvanian Hungarians
over an initially largely peasant Romanian population).

The majority of its leaders were

civil rights in exchange; throughout the following period, although a minority in comparison with the Orthodox Romanian community, Greek-Catholics had been the leaders of all communal political projects appealing directly to Vienna (beginning with the 1791 Supplex Libellus Valachorum
).

The previous generation of ethnic Romanian politicians (especially its central figure,

ASTRA; at the same time, Romania's alliance with Austria-Hungary and the German Empire, carried out under King Carol I and the Conservative Party
cabinets, had prevented any assistance other than maintaining educational and religious facilities of the Romanian communities. As such, the PNR filled a void on the political scene, and, as many other Austro-Hungarian parties demanding ethnic rights, centered its maximal demands on finding a new administrative framework for the Empire.

After 1906, the PNR was one of two parties offering representation, as

Social Democratic Party of Transylvania and Banat
.

In 1892, the PNR was involved in the

assassination in Sarajevo (see: United States of Greater Austria
).

union with Romania and established a Directory Council as a provisional government
for the region, under the leadership of Iuliu Maniu.

In Romania

As the main party in Transylvania, and an advocate of autonomy, the PNR soon clashed with the

Right, the new movements questioned its reserves in front of the promised land reform (with a Liberal version of very limited scope having been carried out in 1918), and resented its opposition to the replacement of the 1866 Constitution of Romania
.

When the elections of 1919 confirmed the disestablishment of the PNL monopoly in front of new and various forces, the PNR and the

People's Party and its leader Alexandru Averescu, reaching a compromise over disputed issues, and channelling Averescu's opposition towards the PNR and the PȚ (aided by the fact that the People's Party had included a dissidence of the PNR under Octavian Goga
).

The failures and radicalism of the Vaida-Voevod government allowed King Ferdinand, a close political ally of the PNL, to dissolve it in March 1920. In April, the new Averescu government, in line with PNL politics, dissolved the Directory Council in Transylvania. Averescu's was viewed as a transitional cabinet, and was soon followed by a new period of Liberal supremacy: much to the outrage of the opposition forces, it allowed Brătianu to pass the 1923 Constitution, a centralist document, through a regular vote in Parliament; nonetheless, the PNL ultimately used the template of land reform proposed by Mihalache, which only served to increase its support.

In 1925, after a failed attempt by Ferdinand to have the PNR and the PNL merge, the former further expanded its appeal when it joined forces with Nicolae Iorga's independent nationalist group (successor to the Democratic Nationalist Party, which had been noted for its pro-Entente activism at the start of the World War), a brief union which saw Iorga as the honorary president of the PNR. That year, the party also fused with the group led by Constantin Argetoianu (which had emerged from the People's Party and had been included regardless of previous animosities between Argetoianu and the PNR), as well as with the minor factions representing the legacy of the Conservatives. The previous year, the PNR and the PȚ formally announced their fusion, only to split after just two days over the presence of the Poporanist Constantin Stere at the forefront of the latter.

As new elections in 1926 seemed to confirm the ascendancy of a PNR-PȚ coalition, the two groups refused a proposal by Averescu to join forces. Ultimately, they were blocked out of government by the

Viscount Rothermere. Such initiatives were soon blocked by the Romanian government, which called on the United Kingdom to expel Carol from its territory. Although Carol returned to rule as king with Maniu's backing (in 1930, replacing his own son Michael I
), talks on Transylvanian topics were cancelled - partly owing to the emerging rivalry between the monarch and Maniu.

On October 10, 1926, the PNR and PȚ put their differences aside and became the

People's Republic of Romania
.

Party leaders

Nicolae Popea 1881–1882
Partenie Cosma 1882–1883
George Bariț 1884–1888
Ioan Rațiu 1889–1890
Vincențiu Babeș 1890–1891
Ioan Rațiu 1892–1902
Gheorghe Pop de Băsești 1903–1919
Iuliu Maniu 1919–1926

Electoral history

Legislative elections

Election Votes % Assembly Senate Position
1919
169 / 568
76 / 216
 1st
1920
27 / 366
14 / 166
 2nd
1922
26 / 372
9 / 148
 3rd
1926 37,672 1.4
0 / 387
0 / 115
 7th

References

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Romanian_National_Party&oldid=1229615415"