National Liberal Party–Tătărescu

National Liberal Party–Tătărescu
Partidul Național Liberal–Tătărescu
LeaderGheorghe Tătărescu[a]
Petre Bejan[b]
Founded1944
Dissolved1950
Split fromNational Liberal Party (PNL)
IdeologyLiberalism
Social liberalism
Political positionCentre to centre-left
National affiliationBloc of Democratic Parties (1946)
Colours  Yellow

The National Liberal Party–Tătărescu (Romanian: Partidul Național Liberal-Tătărescu, PNL-Tătărescu) was a liberal and social liberal political party in the Kingdom of Romania and then in the Socialist Republic of Romania. It was established as a breakaway faction (or spin off) from the main, historical National Liberal Party (PNL) in 1944. From December 1947 onwards, the party was generally referred to as the National Liberal Party–Bejan (PNL-Bejan), as initial leader (or party president) Gheorghe Tătărescu resigned from the party and was replaced by the party's second and last leader, Petre Bejan, before being banned or dissolved by the Communist authorities in 1950.

History

The party resulted from a split in the National Liberal Party (PNL), with the faction centered around Gheorghe Tătărescu, former twice Prime Minister of Romania (both as PNL member and as FRN member), the party's general secretary, establishing a distinct party organisation in late 1944 (the other breakway faction of the PNL, which supported its own party president in the person Gheorghe I. Brătianu, was consequently known as PNL-Brătianu, but ceased to exist in 1938).

In April 1946, the party opted to join the pro-governmental Bloc of Democratic Parties (BPD).[1] At the November 1946 elections, the Bloc won 347 of the 414 seats, with the PNL-T taking 75.[2] In the 1948 elections, the party ran separately as PNL-Bejan, in opposition to the Communist governmental coalition led by Petru Groza and only receiving 7 seats in the Great National Assembly (Romanian: Marea Adunare Națională), the unicameral Romanian Parliament back then and the equivalent of the nowadays Chamber of Deputies. The party was subsequently banned (or dissolved) by the Romanian Communist authorities in 1950.

In stark contrast to the breakaway faction led by Tătărescu and then by Bejan, the main, historical PNL which was led by its last president, Dinu Brătianu, until it was banned (or dissolved) by the Romanian Communist authorities as well (early on in 1948), remained staunchly anti-governmental and in continuous opposition towards the Communists led by Groza.

Leadership

Nº Name
Born – Died 		Portrait Term start Term end
1 Gheorghe Tătărescu
(1886–1957) 		1944 1947
2 Petre Bejan
(1896–1978) 		1947 1950

Election results

Parliament

Election Votes % Seats Position Status
1946 Part of the BPD
75 / 414
 2nd BPD government (1946–1947)
1948 212,438 2.8%
7 / 414
 5th Opposition to BPD government (1947–1950)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ First leader whose party presidency spanned from 1944 to 1947.
  2. ^ Second and last leader whose party presidency spanned from 1947 to 1950.

References

  1. ^ The History of the Soviet Bloc 1945–1991: A Chronology: Part 1, 1945–1952 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Cold War History Research Center
  2. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1610 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7