Despite the liberal sweep, "Reds" suffered significant defeats, for instance in Ilfov County, where their candidate Nicolae Haralambie failed to win against Dimitrie Ghica.

Disputes over the validation of deputies and senators, including Manolache Costache Epureanu, Petru Grădișteanu and Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, continued into the early months of 1868.

Created by a coup which toppled the authoritarian Domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza, it supervised the April elections—under the preordained assumption that Assembly seats would be evenly split between the "right" and the "left".

[1] The Central Electoral Committee, presided upon by the radical doctrinaire C. A. Rosetti, attempted fraud in various regions (including Prahova County); however, the resulting Assembly was overall dominated by the "Whites".

[2] At the time, separatism and Cuza loyalism flared up in Western Moldavia, where a riot—instigated by Calinic Miclescu, Nicu Ceaur-Aslan, Teodor Boldur-Lățescu, and Constantin Moruzi Pecheanu—was quelled by the Romanian Land Forces.

[4] His position was weakened by swing deputies and separatist nostalgia, and also by other hurdles: a financial crisis (which had the state borrowing from private bankers),[5] a cholera outbreak, and a localized famine.

[14] In March 1867 the radicals were able to seal the Concordia Agreement, allying them with the Free and Independent Faction, chaired by Nicolae Ionescu, and a group of moderate liberals under Mihail Kogălniceanu (who commended the allegiance of 25 deputies).

[21] The radicalism of government officials was also fomenting an international crisis, once it became apparent that Brătianu was backing the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee (BRCK) against the Ottoman Empire—which was still Romania's suzerain power.

In April, when Panayot Hitov led a BRCK guerrilla force into the Danube Vilayet at Oltenița, the Ottomans began openly calling for Crețulescu to step down.

[22] The Jewish evictions were especially unpopular within the French Empire, to which the liberals looked for guidance, and soon Brătianu's "demagoguery" was castigated by his allies, including Ștefan Golescu and Dimitrie Sturdza.

[26] Instead, liberal-radicals formed a new governing coalition, which required them to encourage a maximalist version of Romanian nationalism, supporting "Greater Romania" or "Dacia"—namely, the incorporation of Transylvania and other Romanian-inhabited territories of Austria-Hungary.

After filibustering by the "White" deputy Manolache Costache Epureanu, Golescu agreed to dissolve the Assembly and called in new elections, noting that the slim majority he had could not support a government in the long run.

Claiming that government had put up no candidates of its own, it asked functionaries to exercise a "moral influence" over the electorate, to produce a result in accordance with the national interest—generally seen as code for an election fraud through intimidation.

[45] Similarly, the First College of Vaslui County propelled into office a debuting "White", Petre P. Carp, who was just organizing the party chapter in Moldavia,[46] In Dâmbovița, opposition candidates Ienache Văcărescu and Isaia Lerescu also won seats, but, according to Romanulu, both of them were unduly favored by the electoral commission.

The liberal press aired allegations of fraud by the "Whites": in Olt County, a delegation of electors, including Ioan Căpitănescu, refused to cast their vote, as a sign of protest.

[49] A separate scandal took hold in the largely non-Romanian constituency of Bolgrad, where Aristid Pascal, the eventual winner, published manifestos addressing Bessarabian Bulgarians in their native tongue.

By January 5, ballotage in the Second Senatorial College awarded mandates to Nicolae Crețulescu (for Ismail), Emil Casimir (Baia), Ion Pastia (Putna), and Iorgu Scorțescu (Roman); Factionalist leader Ionescu was senator for the University of Iași, and Alexandru Orăscu represented the one in Bucharest.

[58] Although his own "Red" subgroup was by then dominant in the lower house, Brătianu allowed a Moldavian Factionalist, Anastasie Fătu, to replace President Golescu by January 27.

[63] Another contentious case was litigated by Bolliac, who had lost Serrurie but still demanded to be recognized as a deputy, and had to be evicted from the Assembly; meanwhile, "Red" senator Anton Gugiu was confirmed by his peers in a special vote.

The "White" candidate for First College, Manolache Costache Epureanu, asked to be recognized as the winner, but the "Red" majority called fraud, and the seat was left vacant.

[69] The controversy continued in a more subdued form when deputies of the opposition, including D. Ghica and George D. Vernescu, alongside G. T. Brătianu, asked for an inquiry into the Prahova affair.

[60] Procedural controversies still surrounded Ionache Văcărescu, who was considered elected, by a slim margin, only after the voters' census was updated,[72] and Tache Moscu, whose narrow win was contested by those who argued that a deciding write-in ballot was meant for his brother, Costache.

[74] Brătianu's claim that the election had not been fixed, and that government had "no official candidates", was endorsed by accounts in the contemporary press—local and liberal (Românul) as well as Western (La France, Le Siècle).

[59] However, Parliament continued to host debilitating disputes, including over allegations that Golescu had sponsored "Bulgarian bands" of the BRCK to start a revolution in Danube Vilayet, as well as over the functioning of the Court of Cassation.

[78] Antisemitism soon returned as the core issue, when, in Britain, the Earl of Derby cabinet analyzed reports that Romanian Jews were persecuted and prevented from even practicing their religion.

Asked by the Prime Minister not to voice his dissidence, Brătianu restated his ethnic nationalism, but agreed that any such xenophobic excess would ruin Romania's fragile relationship with the West.

[83] Their political survival was especially disappointing for a conservative hopeful, the Dolj deputy George Barbu Știrbei, who missed his opportunity to become prime minister, and left on self-imposed exile.

[86] During similarly organized elections in late July, the conservatives also lost the Senate, ensuring that "Reds" completely dominated Parliament to March 1869, when the "White" party returned in a landslide of its own.

[87] The sudden fall of radicalism, the loss of favor with Domnitor Carol, and the breakup of Concordia pushed Brătianu and Candiano-Popescu into conspiratorial politics—leading to the rebellious episode known as "Republic of Ploiești".