Romania’s Social Democrats to hold internal elections soon

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) in Romania will hold its congress “as soon as possible,” said first vice president Daniel Băluţă on October 4, adding that the party’s interim president, Sorin Grindenau, would announce the precise calendar in the coming days, after the party’s summit.

Băluţă, PSD’s likely candidate for the Bucharest mayor position, announced that the local elections will be held in the capital city as well.

“There will be a congress, there is no problem. There will be a congress, and there will be elections in Bucharest. All these things will happen, respecting the legal deadlines in both cases,” Daniel Băluţă also said, as quoted by Economica.net.

However, he added that the local elections in Bucharest will be scheduled by prime minister Ilie Bolojan.

The PSD congress, which will include internal elections to appoint a party leader after Marcel Ciolacu stepped down following the disappointing parliamentary and presidential results, is likely to mark an important moment in the political stabilisation of the country.

Interim president Grindeanu is favourable to maintaining the existing four-party coalition functional with a view of taking over the prime ministership in April 2027, while the plans of its main challenger, Titus Corlatean, reportedly backed by former prime minister and PSD leader Adrian Nastase and a close political partner of Victor Ponta (currently out of the party on an isolationist agenda), are less clear. The fact is that the internal competition among factions within the Social Democrats has resulted in constantly high tensions between the party and its partners in the ruling coalition.

The local elections for Bucharest mayor also have an important impact on the ruling coalition. PSD insists against the other parties in the coalition, particularly the Liberal Party (PNL) and Save Romania Union (USR), joining their forces to defeat PSD’s candidate, Daniel Băluţă, who is rated by the polls as the preferred candidate.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/George Calin)