ABSTRACT
Estimates indicate that at least one fifth of the Romanian electorate lives abroad, in other EU countries. Voters in the diaspora are not passive; on the contrary, they played a decisive role in the most recent election for the European Parliament and in the last two presidential elections. At the same time, the existence of parliamentary seats representing Romanians in the diaspora has encouraged political parties to actively compete for their votes and to establish organizations abroad. Previous research indicates the existence of broad variations in the organization of the Romanian political parties, e.g. centralization and inclusiveness of decision-making, executive bodies, the role of the party leader or party membership. However, only limited attention has been paid to the organization of these parties in countries with large numbers of Romanians. This chapter seeks to address this gap and analyse the way the main Romanian parties have developed abroad. The qualitative analysis relies on semi-structured interviews with members of party organizations in diaspora.
