2019 has been a dark year for the
\nparty that has been dominating the political scene in post-communist Romania,
\nthat is, for the last 30 years. In May, the Social Democratic Party clearly
\nlost to the National Liberal Party in the European elections, when it won only
\nhalf of the number of votes that had brought it to power three years ago. The
\nfollowing day, Liviu Dragnea, who had a tight grip on the party and the ruling
\ncoalition with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, was sentenced and sent
\nto prison for acts of corruption. In September, the Liberals and Democrats withdrew
\nfrom the ruling coalition and the government led by the party’s new leader,
\nViorica Dancila, lost its majority in Parliament. In October, Dancila and her
\nteam lost a no-confidence vote in Parliament initiated by the Liberals, who
\nduly formed the government as a result. Finally, as her party’s candidate in
\nthe presidential elections, Dancila lost last Sunday’s runoff vote against the
\nincumbent president Klaus Iohannis, who was backed by the Liberals. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
It’s a tradition within the Social
\nDemocratic Party for the candidate who loses the presidential elections to
\nresign as party leader, something seen with Adrian Nastase, Mircea Geoana and
\nVictor Ponta, and Viorica Dancila was no exception. On Tuesday night, less than
\n48 hours after the elections, she lost her colleagues’ support and said she would
\nresign after a tense meeting of the party’s National Permanent Committee. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The speaker of Parliament’s Chamber
\nof Deputies Marcel Ciolacu has taken over as interim president of the party. He
\nis aided by Paul Stanescu as secretary general, by eight regional
\nvice-presidents and five other leaders of regional branches that had good
\nresults in the presidential elections. The outgoing leader Viorica Dancila will
\ntake over the leadership of the Social Democratic women’s organisation. The
\ninterim president of the Social Democratic Party Marcel Ciolacu:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We have reached the conclusion that
\nwe need to reset the party, so didn’t go around asking for heads to fall. It’s
\na first for the Social Democratic Party, and the former leader is also part of
\nthe team, as president of the women’s organisation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Viorica Dancila says her resignation
\nis a way of taking responsibility for the election result:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
I have understood the opinions of
\nmy colleagues, it’s not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of dignity and it was
\nmy decision to resign as leader of the Social Democratic Party. I have done
\nthis for the party.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
A congress will be held next year,
\nmost likely in February, to designate a new leadership ahead of the following
\nelection tests for the Social Democratic Party, the local and the parliamentary
\nelections. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Social Democratic leader Viorica Dancila resigns two days after losing the presidential elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":83817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[33066,29386,29442],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-83816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-dancila","tag-psd","tag-resignation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n