România

Note: In parliamentary balloting on December 9, 2012, the Social Liberal Union, an electoral alliance led by the Social Democratic Party (PSD), won 122 of 176 Senate seats and 273 of 412 Chamber of Deputy seats. Victor Ponta (PSD) was reappointed as prime minister on December 17. Ponta expanded the cabinet from 16 ministers to 26, securing parliamentary approval for the new government on December 21.

Political Status: Independence established 1878; People’s Republic proclaimed December 30, 1947; designated a Socialist Republic by constitution adopted August 21, 1965; redesignated as Romania in December 1989; presidential multiparty constitution approved in referendum of December 8, 1991.

Area: 91,699 sq. mi. (237,500 sq. km).

Population: 22,101,441 (2012E—UN); 21,848,504 (2012E—U.S. Census).

Major Urban Centers (2005E): BUCHAREST (Bucureşti, 1,886,000), Cluj-Napoca (315,000), Iaşi (314,000), Timişoara (313,000), ...