The party remained in power at governmental level until 2019, before being voted down in the parliament and then endorsing a PNL minority government between 2019 and 2020.

[30] During its first National Conference on the 28th of June 1992, FDSN decided on endorsing Ion Iliescu in the 1992 Romanian general election,[31] which they later won and went on to govern Romania until 1996.

[34] After four years of governmental turmoil and economic downfall, poorly managed by the crumbling CDR, saw PDSR making a fulminant comeback, winning the 2000 Romanian general election, this time in a coalition named the Social Democratic Pole of Romania (PDSR) along with the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSDR, who was part of the government from 1996 to 2000, as a member of the Social Democratic Union, now led by Alexandru Athanasiu) and the Romanian Humanist Party (PUR).

The PSDR merged with PDSR on 16 June 2001, and the resulting party took the PSD name, with PDSR/PSD leader Adrian Năstase becoming prime minister.

[35][36][37] A controversial figure due to the corruption scandals in which he and his party were involved, Năstase is still regarded by both admirers and rivals (including his archrival Traian Băsescu),[38] as the best and most efficient Romanian post-communist Prime Minister, being praised for his efforts of Euro-Atlantic integration of Romania and for the stabilization and modernization of the Romanian economy.

[39][40][41][42] In November 2004, Adrian Năstase, the PSD candidate and incumbent Prime Minister of Romania, won the first round of the presidential elections but did not have a majority and had to go to a second round of voting, which he narrowly lost to Traian Băsescu of the opposition Justice and Truth Alliance (DA), who became Romania's 4th president.

On 12 April 2019, the PSD was suspended from the Party of European Socialists (PES) following concerns about judicial reforms of the Dăncilă Cabinet.

Such decline sent shockwase across the European Union (EU), especially the PES, as it resulted in their loss of power within von der Leyen Commission.

[28] Shortly after December 2020, while still the largest party in the wake of the 2020 Romanian legislative election, the PSD suffered significant political capital losses (as they previously did in the 2020 Romanian local elections as well) given the chaotic and negative governmental activity the party was responsible for during the former legislature (more specifically during the years 2017 and 2019), yet remained the biggest parliamentary opposition well up until the end of 2021.

During the 2021 Romanian political crisis, the PSD was again willing to have such a vote, this time against the Cîțu Cabinet,[49] which it subsequently did,[50] thereby contributing to its final dismissal.

[52][53] In November 2022, the PSD agreed with the Moldovan European Social Democratic Party (PSDE) to begin a strategic partnership.

According to Florin Poenaru, "the movement led by Ion Iliescu was from the very beginning the party of local capitalists and not of the industrial proletariat.

[62] Its more conservative outlook is owed to the social-conservative nature of post-Communist countries, and has been adopted by both the centre-left (PSD) and the centre-right (PNL).

[104] For Cornel Ban, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Pardee School of Boston University, the PSD is an anomaly in Eastern Europe in that it was an ideal playground for right-wing populist parties but has seen the political left routinely win; this was in part because the political right and far-right were in government, including at the local level, during the post-Communist slumps which remained in the mind of many voters.

[110] Deutsche Welle stated that, unlike most European Social-democratic parties, PSD is against social progressivism and is strongly conservative.

[111] Journalist and philosipher Andrei Cornea also stated that PSD is not a social-democratic party, but a patrimonial-conservative one, structured around vassalism and clientelism, whose essential electoral pool is formed by a poor, ignorant and especially devoid of civic conscience.

200 of the Penal Code and adjusted other articles referring to sex offences to avoid discriminatory treatment of offenders, thus legalising same-sex relations.

[122] However, the current president of the Social Democrats, Marcel Ciolacu, is a strong opponent to the recognition of same-sex marriage and the civil partnership.

In order to develop PSD programs and strategies in the field of party life, consultative councils can be set up on: political analysis, image and relations with the media; organization and human resources.

The PSD Congress is made up of elected delegates by secret ballot by the County Conferences and the Bucharest Municipality and has the following attributions: adopting or modifying the PSD Statute and the Political Program of the Party; sets out the party's guidelines, strategy and tactics for the period between two congresses; elects the party chairman, the vice-presidents, the general secretary, the other members of the National Council, the National Commission for Arbitration and Moral Integrity and the National Commission for Financial Control; appoints the PSD candidate to the position of President of Romania and the prime minister in the event of winning the elections; resolves possible appeals against decisions of other PSD central bodies.

By 2009, a number of its incumbent or former senior members have also been accused of corruption, interfering in the judiciary and using their political positions for personal enrichment.

[126] As of 2015, founding member Ion Iliescu is facing prosecution on charges of crimes against humanity for his role in the June 1990 Mineriad,[127] while former president Liviu Dragnea was convicted for electoral fraud and for instigation to the abuse of public office and being indicted for forming an "organised criminal group" in 2018.

[129] Adrian Năstase temporarily self-suspended himself from the position on 16 January 2006, pending investigation of a scandal provoked by his wealth declaration, where he was accused of corruption.

[131] Security expert Iulian Fota stated that PSD is a neocommunist anti-Western party backed by Russia.

[133] On 5 March 2012, PSD Senator Dan Șova, at that time the party spokesman, said on The Money Channel that "no Jew suffered on Romanian territory, thanks to marshal Antonescu.

"[134] Elie Wiesel National Institute for Studying the Holocaust in Romania expressed its deep disagreement and indignation over the statements of the spokesman of the party.

In a 2018 preliminary opinion, the Venice Commission stated that the changes could severely undermine the independence of judges and prosecutors in Romania.

[137] This unsuccessful endeavour committed by the former PSD–ALDE coalition was the basis for the nationwide 2017–2019 Romanian protests,[138] the largest in the country's entire history thus far.