The team with which Sorin Grindeanu is running alone for the position of PSD president

PSD will elect its new president on November 7, and Sorin Grindeanu is the only one registered in the race for party leadership. Among the names that will be part of Sorin Grindeanu's team are MEP Claudiu Manda, Gabriela Firea or Daniel Băluță, the mayor of Sector 4.

Sorin Grindeanu, the interim president of the PSD, decided who will be part of the party's new leadership team, once it is validated by the congress. Sorin Grindeanu, who took over the interim leadership of the party on May 20, after the resignation of Marcel Ciolacu, is running for the position of president.

General secretary, practically, the second most important person in the party will be Claudiu Manda, MEP. On the other hand, Lia Olguța Vasilescu, mayor of the municipality of Craiova, who until now held the position of vice president of the party, will no longer be part of the leadership.

She is president of the Association of Municipalities in Romania, so she automatically has a say in the party's internal meetings. In the same situation is Alfred Simonis, the president of the CJ Timiș, who is also the president of the National Union of County Councils.

Mihai Tudose will retain his position as president of the PSD National Council

Now, PSD will have five first vice-presidents, instead of two. The positions will be held by Bogdan Ivan, Minister of Energy, MEP Victor Negrescu, Ionuț Pucheanu, mayor of Galați, Corneliu Ștefan, president of Dâmbovița County Council.

The fifth position of first vice-president will be occupied by Marius Oprescu, president of CJ Olt. He is close to Paul Stănescu, who for 6 years held the position of general secretary of the party, but decided not to run.

Until now, there were 16 positions of vice-presidents in the PSD leadership.

Grindeanu proposes a team of 20 vice-presidents:

• Daniel Băluță, the mayor of Sector 4
• Dragoș Benea, MEP
• Gheorghe Cârciu, MEP
• Francisk Iulian Chiriac, president of Brăila CJ
• Mihnea Costoiu, rector of the Politehnica University of Bucharest
• Vasile Dîncu, MEP
• Andrei Dolineaschi, deputy from Bucharest
• Marius Alexandru Dunca, senator from Brașov
• Doina Federovici, senator from Botoșani
• Gabriela Firea, MEP
• Adrian Gâdea, president of CJ Teleorman
• Aladin Gigi Georgescu, president of CJ Mehedinți
• Dumitrita Gliga, deputy for Mureș
• Romeo Lungu, deputy from Buzau
• Silvia Claudia Mihalcea, MP for Caraș Severin
• Laurentiu Nistor, president of Hunedoara CJ
• Constantin Rădulescu, president of CJ Vâlcea
• Gheoghe Șoldan, president of the Suceava CJ
• Adriana Diana Tușa, deputy from Bucharest
• Gabriel Zetea, president of CJ Maramureș

Five people will leave the PSD leadership. It is about the current vice-presidents:

• Marian Neacșu (vice president for the Bucharest-Ilfov region)
• Emil Radu Moldovan (vice president for the North-West region)
• Florin Nicolae Jianu (entrepreneurship, SMEs and the business environment)
• Victoria Stoiciu (relationship with NGOs and civic dialogue)
• Elisabeta Lipă (sport)

Florin Jianu, Victoria Stoiciu and Elisabeta Lipă joined the leadership team in the summer of 2024, when Marcel Ciolacu was re-elected president of the party.

Congress with only one candidate

The congress in which the social democrats will choose their new leadership and, implicitly, the new president was scheduled for November 7. Until today, October 20, PSD members can submit their candidacies to enter the party leadership race.

So far, the only announced candidate is Sorin Grindeanu, who became interim president of the PSD after the resignation of Marcel Ciolacu on May 20 and hopes to become president with full powers of the party.

The retirement of Titus Corlățean

Last week Monday, on the day the day of the congress was set, Titus Corlățean, who represents the more conservative voices in the PSD, announced that he was withdrawing from the race.

In the message in which he announced his withdrawal, Corlățean criticized the party and said that the project proposed by him and the team supporting him “is not feasible”.

“I entered this competition with the conviction that we can change things, that we can build a serious, professional team capable of restoring hope to this party. But the reality is different. PSD has become a space dominated by transactions, fears and personal calculations. There is no more courage, real debate or desire for reform. I met many colleagues who agreed with me, but too few were willing to get involved openly”, said Corlățean on facebook.