The summer of 2012 was marked by a large-scale political crisis, fed by accusations of plagiarism to PSD-backed Prime Minister Victor Ponta and culminating with the suspension of President Traian Băsescu.

During this period, Romania was warned by Western powers about the state of democracy, inasmuch as the dismissal of the presidents of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies was made in a shady manner, and prominent figures of PSD, including Vice-President Liviu Dragnea, were accused of vote rigging in the referendum.

Ponta's failure was mainly due to irregularities concerning the voting process in diaspora and numerous corruption scandals involving figures from the party he leads.

During the electoral campaign, people protested against Victor Ponta and members of his government, inasmuch as thousands of Romanian citizens in diaspora were prevented from exercising their right to vote due to bad organization of the election process.

Poor working conditions, mass layoffs and tax hikes displease the population that is filling the squares of main cities to shout their grievances.

Over the past 25 years, Romania has experienced a complex process of democratization with moments of crisis, economic stagnation, radical nationalism and extreme polarization.

[12][13] Despite Romania's admission into NATO in 2004, and into the European Union in 2007, the political situation remained unstable, with recurrent institutional clashes between the President, Prime Minister and Parliament, such as in 2007 and 2012[14] and tough austerity measures that fuelled social tensions.

President Traian Băsescu's popularity collapsed mainly after imposing austerity measures in 2010, year when Romania also confronted with short living but large street demonstrations.

Thousands of policemen and gendarmes were deployed on the streets to confront angry demonstrators that stoned the vehicles of the law enforcers, vandalized shops and burned cars.

South East Europe Media Organisation, a NGO that has its headquarters in Vienna, expressed concern about the level of violence against reporters who covered the protests.

The demonstrations, entitled suggestively the "Protest of inverted commas" (Romanian: Protestul ghilimelelor), were attended by hundreds of people, among them former Prime Minister Ungureanu, aiming Victor Ponta's resignation.

On 16 January 2013, thousands of employees triggered a spontaneous strike,[58] 138 trains being blocked for several hours in major railway stations in the country, including Bucharest, Craiova, Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Galați and Constanța.

[62] Those 2,000 students that went on Japanese strike, wearing white banderoles on arm, are from 15 high schools in the cities of Sfântu Gheorghe, Târgu Secuiesc, Covasna and Baraolt.

[63] Likewise, around 150 students from high schools throughout the Mureș County went on indefinitely Japanese strike, in solidarity with the colleagues which were not settled money for commuting subscriptions.

[67] On 13 November, thousands of students from 11 universities in Bucharest, Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Constanța, Galați, Baia Mare, Sibiu, Suceava, Oradea and Alba Iulia took to the streets to protest the underfunding of the education system.

[72] Triggered by the National Alliance of Student Organizations in Romania,[73] After failed negotiations with the Minister of Education Sorin Cîmpeanu, protests spread to other universities in Bucharest, Iași, Cluj-Napoca, Reșița, Oradea and Suceava.

[76] Situation in hospitals, poor payroll and lack of staff pushed the doctors to launch an ample program of protests aimed to alarm the minister Eugen Nicolăescu over collapse of Romanian health system.

[95] The draft law also sets time limits for the state authorities to grant all permits, regardless of potential infringements of national legislation or of court rulings.

The protests, dubbed by international media the "Romanian Autumn",[100] have taken many forms: human chains around the Palace of the Parliament, flash mobs, roadblocks and scuffles with police.

[112] Mobilized on social networks, protesters demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Victor Ponta and President Traian Băsescu, but also the dissolution of Parliament.

[115][116] The National Anticorruption Directorate showed that, following the changes to the Penal Code, lawmakers indicted for corruption or similar to that misdemeanor might be acquitted, and those detained through final sentence might be set free.

The Democratic Liberal Party submitted, on 12 December, to the Constitutional Court, two notices about the changes adopted Tuesday by the Chamber of Deputies to the Penal Code, one aimed at defining civil servant and the other one referring to the conflict of interest.

Victor Ponta repeatedly refused Klaus Iohannis' proposal as Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior, fact that inflamed the spirits inside PNL.

[166] In a TV show, President Traian Băsescu reacted to declarations of PSD senator, Gabriela Firea, stating: "She better stays in her seat and would handle what happens on the estate of her husband.

[168][169] European Socialist leader Sergey Stanishev condemned the statements made by Traian Băsescu, claiming that declarations to Gabriela Firea are provocative and inflammatory, and the suggestion that her husband could "disappear" is beyond the limits of decency.

[172][173] Journalists criticized the stultification of the scandal involving Prime Minister Victor Ponta, accusing him that he tries to move the discussion from concrete facts reported by DNA prosecutors in the plan of political conflict with Traian Băsescu and "press staging".

[174] Victor Ponta's movement from the Victoria Palace to the Ministry of Defence was also criticized by PNL President Crin Antonescu, claiming that the Prime Minister "has lost control" and "mocks the country's institutions".

Protests first broke out on 8 November when thousands gathered in city squares in support of compatriots living abroad who were turned away as they tried to vote in the first round,[177] prompting Romania's foreign minister Titus Corlățean to resign.

Then, tens of thousands of Romanians abroad were attacked with batons and tear gas by law enforcers, while voters forced the entrance into embassies to cast their vote.

[194] George Kent, main coordinator of anticorruption programs in the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia of the U.S. State Department, criticized the decision, pointing that "justice must be able to judge".