Bucharest, Dec 23 (IANS) Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on Monday that he had officially appointed Marcel Ciolacu, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader and incumbent Prime Minister, to lead the country’s new government, according to media reports.
On December 20, Romania’s newly elected Parliament convened following the December 1 elections.
Marcel Ciolacu on November 25, Chairman of PSD, announced his resignation after failing to advance to the Presidential runoff, finishing third in the first round with 19.15 per cent of the vote.
Ciolacu remained Prime Minister till the elections concluded and a new parliamentary majority was formed. He added that he would not run for any position in future PSD leadership elections.
On August 24, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu was re-elected as the chairman of the country’s Social Democratic Party (PSD) and confirmed as the party’s candidate for the upcoming Presidential elections.
The decision was made during the PSD Congress, where 2,257 of the 2,380 delegates present voted in favour of Ciolacu’s candidacy.
The congress also saw the election of other key members of the party’s leadership. PSD is the leading member of the ruling alliance and the largest political party in Romania.
As the Romanian Constitution permits a maximum of two Presidential terms, incumbent President Klaus Iohannis, first elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2019, was ineligible for re-election. His second and final term will conclude in December this year.
Marcel Ciolacu served as Romania’s Prime Minister in June 2023 and had been the president of the Chamber of Deputies from 2021 to 2023. He also ran for President in the 2024 elections but did not make it past the first round, securing 19.15 per cent of the votes.
However, on November 26, 2019, following the overwhelming defeat of new PSD leader Viorica Dancila in the 2019 Romanian Presidential election, Ciolacu was named leader of the party, firstly ad-interim, until he was confirmed to hold the position by the party congress the next year on August 22, 2020 with an overwhelming 1310–91 margin against his opponent. Ciolacu led the party to victory in the 2020 Romanian legislative election but was not able to form a majority coalition in the new legislative. Other parties opposed to the PSD formed a new coalition on December 23 with the new government, thus pushing Ciolacu’s PSD into opposition.
However, in 2021, following the political crisis that led to the collapse of the Cîțu Cabinet, he managed to bring the PSD back to the government, forming a Cabinet with its former rival, the National Liberal Party, thus forming the National Coalition for Romania.
–IANS
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