Parliamentary elections were held on December 9, 2012, in which the USL government camp run by Ponta, which the UNPR had also joined, won around 58.6% of the vote and 273 members of parliament. The PSD received 33.1% of the votes and 150 members of parliament. The opposition PDL could only win 52 seats (2008: 115 seats). President Băsescu instructed Ponta on December 17, 2012 to form a new cabinet. On December 21, 2012, the parliament approved the new government made up of PSD, PNL, PC and UNPR. Domestic politics was overshadowed by numerous corruption scandals. President Băsescu In early February 2013 refused to sign a law that would have made it difficult to prosecute politicians for alleged corruption. Transport Minister Relu Fenechiu (* 1965) was the first acting minister to be found guilty of corruption. He resigned from his post on July 12, 2013. The deputy prime minister and PSD politician Liviu Dragnea (* 1962) was charged with election manipulation in October 2013. The allegations related to the unsuccessful referendum on the impeachment of President Băsescu due to the lack of a quorumin July 2012. In December 2013, parliament again passed two laws amending criminal law with a majority of the governing coalition. According to this, politicians in Romania should enjoy almost unlimited immunity and should no longer be able to be charged with corruption and nepotism. President Băsescu again refused to sign the legal reform and appealed to the Constitutional Court. Thousands of people took to the streets against the laws.

Disputes over a reshuffle of the cabinet led to the PNL’s withdrawal from the governing coalition in February 2014. According to Youremailverifier, Prime Minister Ponta formed a new coalition government made up of PSD, PC, UNPR and UDMR, which was ratified by Parliament on March 4, 2014. On November 2, 2014, the first round of the presidential elections took place, in which incumbent Băsescu could no longer run after two terms in office. Of the 14 applicants, none of the candidates achieved the required absolute majority. Prime Minister Ponta was able to win around 40.4% of the vote. The PNL chairman K. Johannis came as a candidate for the Christian-Liberal Alliance (ACL) formed by the PNL and PDLwith around 30.4% of the votes in second place. In the runoff election on November 16, 2014, Johannis came out on top with around 54.5% of the votes, surprisingly clearly against the favored Ponta, who received around 45.5% of the votes. Johannis, who was successful in local politics as the mayor of Sibiu for many years, had campaigned primarily for a solid economic policy and the fight against corruption. With him a member of the Romanian Germans was elected president for the first time. In 2015, Prime Minister Ponta came under considerable domestic political pressure in the wake of allegations of corruption. A motion of no confidence by the opposition Ponta failed in parliament on June 12, 2015. On July 13, 2015, the public prosecutor initiated an investigation against him for fraud, tax evasion and money laundering. The charges were brought in September 2015. In the same month, another motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister failed. 64 people lost their lives in a fire disaster due to safety deficiencies in a nightclub in Bucharest on October 30, 2015. There were mass protests against the government. Finally, on November 4, 2015, Ponta announced his resignation and the resignation of his cabinet. Former EU Commissioner D. Cioloş formed a new government made up of non-party experts, which was confirmed on November 17, 2015 by a vote of confidence in both chambers of parliament. D. Cioloş endeavored to stabilize domestic politics with a reform-oriented agenda.

In the parliamentary elections on December 11, 2016, the PSD, which had set on a nationalist course during the election campaign, was by far the strongest political force. It won 45.5% of the vote and 154 parliamentary seats. The National Liberal Party (PNL) received 20% of the vote and 69 seats. The PSD and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), which won 5.6% of the vote and 20 seats, agreed to form a coalition. On December 27, 2016, President Johannis rejected the nomination of Sevil Shhaideh (* 1964), who had been proposed by the PSD as a candidate for the office of Prime Minister, without giving any reasons. The candidate proposed by the PSD afterwards, the former Minister of Communications S. Grindeanu, he was nominated as Prime Minister on December 30, 2016. On January 4, 2017, Parliament confirmed the government it had formed. Abuse of office and corruption remained conflict issues in domestic politics. After the government had relaxed the laws against corruption by means of an urgent ordinance on January 31, 2017, protest demonstrations took place across the country, some of which were accompanied by violent riots. The opposition accused the government of primarily wanting to protect the PSD chairman and parliamentary president Liviu Dragnea (* 1962) with the regulation. Also President Johannis opposed the government decision. After the largest demonstrations since 1989, the cabinet finally withdrew the controversial decree in a special session on February 5, 2017. After an intra-party power struggle between Dragnea and Grindeanu, the latter was overthrown by parliament on June 21, 2017 through a successful motion of no confidence from the ranks of the governing parties. On June 26, 2017, President Johannis designated the PSD politician and previous Minister of Economics Mihai Tudose (* 1967) as his successor in the office of Head of Government . Its cabinet received Parliament’s confirmation on June 29, 2017. Government bills to reform the judiciary sparked public disputes. Domestic and foreign critics feared the independence of the judiciary and the possibility of an effective fight against corruption. Accompanied by public protests, laws were passed in December 2017 that changed the previous legal status of judges and public prosecutors as well as the organization of the judiciary. After a dispute over whether the Minister of the Interior would remain in the cabinet, the PSD management committee withdrew its confidence on January 15, 2018, Prime Minister Tudose, whose relationship with PSD chairman Dragnea was now considered to have been shattered. Thereupon gave Tudose the office of head of government. A new cabinet under the leadership of V. Dăncilă (PSD) was confirmed by Parliament on January 29, 2018. This was the first time that a woman took over the office of prime minister in Romania.

In the presidential election on November 10, 2019, Head of State K. Johannis prevailed with 37.8% of the vote, but did not achieve the required absolute majority. Prime Minister V. Dăncilă came to 22.2% of the vote.