Faith in a New Party: The Involvement of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the 2020 Election Campaign

ABSTRACT The intensity and nature of ties between the Church and political parties was covered by a rich literature. However, we know relatively little about why the Church would support a newly emerged political party formed in a competitive space, in which other parties had in the past enjoyed the Church’s support. This article aims to explain why many members of the Romanian Orthodox Church campaigned for the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) in the 2020 legislative elections. Our analysis relies on 18 semi-structured interviews conducted with Orthodox priests from different parts of the country. The findings illustrate that the traditionalist priests supported the party. These priests felt cornered by the existing anti-clerical attitudes in Romanian society, declared themselves disappointed by the mainstream parties for abandoning the Church, and perceived the EU as a threat to the traditional Romanian values and way of life.