The office was created by the communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu in 1974 and has developed into its modern form after the Romanian Revolution and the adoption of the 1991 constitution.
The current acting president is Ilie Bolojan, who has been serving since 12 February 2025 following the resignation of Klaus Iohannis ahead of his impeachment vote.
Internationally, Băsescu aligned Romania closer to the United States, the European Union (EU), and NATO, maintaining a pro-Western foreign policy throughout both his terms.
Both impeachment referendums were invalidated by the Constitutional Court on the grounds of low turnout, thus paving his way for a comeback to presidency.
In the wake of the 2016 legislative elections, his first presidential term was marked by the frequent change of prime ministers made by his former and current close allies, the social democrats, as well as by the most massive and widespread series of protests to have ever occurred in the history of Romania (which were directed against the political corruption supposedly endorsed by the social democratic governments).