In January 2005, he was named prefect of Suceava County.[1] In April 2008, he was dismissed from his job of prefect and named subprefect of the same county. Meanwhile, in November 2004 he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies as a member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), serving until his resignation early the following year.[2] In August 2008, he resigned and decided to run in the 2008 election on a PDL ticket,[3] winning a Senate seat in a Suceava County district.[4]
He was nominated in 2009 to be part of the second Emil Boc Cabinet, but soon after, he gave up to this office after the press began talking about the car accident in which he was involved. Onofrei explained his decision by saying he did not want to put the President or the Prime-Minister in a difficult situation.[5]