Marcel Ciolacu resigned from the PSD leadership. The decision will be officially announced on Tuesday
Marcel Ciolacu announced his resignation from the position of PSD president, during the informal meeting of the social-democratic leadership that takes place at Vila Lac, sources from Hotnews said.
For now, only Ciolacu has given up the post from the PSD leadership, not being made another decision regarding the stay or resignation of the other leadership members.
Ciolacu's resignation comes in the context in which Nicușor Dan won the presidential elections, and in the following days he must designate a candidate for the position of prime minister, a position from which Ciolacu has already resigned on May 5, the day after the first round, in which George Simion had obtained a double score from Dan.
Successive failures at PSD leadership
Marcel Ciolacu led the Social-Democratic Party of November 26, 2019, when he took over the party leadership after the then leader's failure, Viorica Dăncilă, at the presidential elections of that year.
Ciolacu was reconfirmed as a president following a PSD Congress that took place in August 2020. He was the party candidate for the presidential elections of November 2024, but missed the access to round II, a premiere in the history of the Social Democrats.
He obtained 19.15%of the votes and ranked third, after Călin Georgescu (score 22.95%) and Elena Lasconi (score 19.17%). This is the weakest score ever obtained in choices by a PSD candidate. As a result of this failure, Ciolacu announced his resignation from the party leadership.
“Last night I gave the Secretary General Resignation, today at 5:00 pm I convened a national political council and we will communicate the decision we will make,” announced, on November 25, 2024, Marcel Ciolacu, from the PSD headquarters. “We are talking about an acceptance of the resignation because it is a unilateral act,” added the social-democrat.
Later, he returned to the resignation decision, invoking a discussion with the leaders of the party, who asked them to stay in office.
At the presidential elections in May, PSD supported, along with PNL and UDMR, Crin Antonescu, from the position of independent, but this time the candidate supported by the Social Democrats failed to enter the second round. George Simion (gold)-40.9%and Nicușor Dan (independent)-20.9%, Crin Antonescu only rank 3, with 20.0%, were ranked on the first two positions.
As a result of this new failure, Marcel Ciolacu announced his resignation from the position of prime minister, which he has held from June 2023. “This coalition, after the annulment of the presidential elections and the result of the parliamentary elections, was as a coalition with two objectives: to create a government with PSD Prime Minister because the PSD was in the first place. Presidency.
Congrats to Nicușor Dan
At the same time, the PSD leadership decided to leave the ruling coalition, although the social-democratic ministers continue to exercise their functions with the interim title until the future government is installed. For tour II, PSD did not make an explicit voting recommendation for one of the two candidates left in the race, but Ciolacu was congratulated Nicușor Dan after the victory.
Marcel Ciolacu congratulates Nicușor Dan for victory. The “priority” that the PSD leader hopes to “establish” the new president of Romania
“I congratulate Nicușor Dan for the victory and especially congratulate the Romanians in the country and in the diaspora, because their massive presence will give the future president an increased legitimacy. The Romanians again proved to the world that, in the most difficult times, they know how to go over the economic, social or political differences,”
The PSD leader believes that “the result of today's choices shows clearly that Romania needs reconciliation and reconstruction”.
Marcel Ciolacu was born on November 28, 1967, in Buzau. He started his political career in his hometown being a local councilor, county councilor, deputy mayor, before becoming a deputy in 2012. As a parliamentarian he was two president of the Chamber of Deputies (May 2019-December 2020 and November 2021-June 2023), before becoming the prime minister of the PSD-PNL Coalition Government.
