{"id":4134,"date":"2025-03-13T09:02:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T09:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=4134"},"modified":"2025-03-13T09:02:16","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T09:02:16","slug":"romanias-former-pm-victor-ponta-expelled-from-psd-after-launching-independent-presidential-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=4134","title":{"rendered":"Romania\u2019s former PM Victor Ponta expelled from PSD after launching independent presidential bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victor Ponta<\/strong>, a former prime minister and leader of the Social Democrats (PSD),\u00a0has been expelled from the PSD after launching his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election as an independent. The decision was made during a meeting of the party\u2019s National Political Council on Wednesday, March 12, according to News.ro<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Current PSD leader and prime minister Marcel Ciolacu had previously stated that Ponta could not run for president as a Social Democrat since the governing coalition, which includes PSD, the Liberals (PNL), the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians\u00a0(UDMR), and minority representatives, had already agreed on Crin Antonescu as their common candidate.<\/p>\n

In February, Victor Ponta was also dismissed from his role as an advisor to prime minister Ciolacu, a decision he accepted as being strictly political after he refused to support Antonescu\u2019s candidacy.<\/p>\n

After submitting his candidacy at the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) on Wednesday, Ponta said that Romania was experiencing an unprecedented crisis, claiming authorities had canceled last year\u2019s elections and blocked candidates deemed undesirable by the system – most likely referring to far-right populist C\u0103lin Georgescu. He expressed doubt over whether he would be allowed to run, suggesting he was seen as a threat, just like other candidates who had been prevented from participating.<\/p>\n

Speaking outside the BEC building, the former PM called for power to be returned \u201cto the citizens,\u201d highlighting \u201cthe struggles of those working hard in Romania and abroad, paying taxes, and deserving basic rights such as healthcare, education, and pensions.\u201d He also vowed to make Romania \u201ca home for all its citizens,\u201d including those living abroad.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on his past, Victor Ponta said he had changed significantly since losing the 2014 presidential election to Klaus Iohannis. He insisted that he had sought to understand both those who supported him and those who voted against him. He also accused PSD of yielding to pressure from PNL to expel him, acknowledging that he had already been removed from the party once before.<\/p>\n

The first round of Romania\u2019s presidential election is scheduled for May 4, with a potential runoff on May 18. The deadline for submitting candidacies is March 15.<\/p>\n

Far-right leaders George Simion (AUR) and Anamaria Gavril\u0103 (POT) have also announced their candidacies<\/a> for Romania\u2019s 2025 presidential election following\u00a0the invalidation of C\u0103lin Georgescu\u2019s bid<\/a>. The two politicians stated that only one of them would remain in the race after their candidacies are officially validated.<\/p>\n

The general mayor of Bucharest,\u00a0Nicu\u0219or Dan<\/a>, has been cleared to run in Romania\u2019s upcoming presidential elections, and so has the ruling coalition\u2019s joint candidate, Crin Antonescu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

irina.marica@romania-insider.com<\/p>\n

(Photo source:\u00a0Inquam Photos \/\u00a0George\u00a0C\u0103lin<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Victor Ponta, a former prime minister and leader of the Social Democrats (PSD),\u00a0has been expelled from the PSD after launching his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election as an independent. The decision was made during a meeting of the party\u2019s National Political Council on Wednesday, March 12, according to News.ro. Current PSD leader and prime […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}