Marcel Ciolacu reappointed as Romanian prime minister
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis announced on Monday that he had officially appointed Marcel Ciolacu, the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the incumbent prime minister, to lead the country’s new government, according to media reports.
On December 20, Romania’s newly elected Parliament convened following the December 1 elections.
Ciolacu, who had resigned as PSD chairman on November 25 after failing to advance to the presidential runoff, remained prime minister until the elections concluded and a new parliamentary majority was formed. He had finished third in the first round of the presidential election with 19.15 percent of the vote, and he stated he would not run for any position in future PSD leadership elections.
On August 24, Ciolacu was re-elected as chairman of the PSD and confirmed as the party’s candidate for the upcoming presidential elections. The decision was made during the PSD Congress, where 2,257 of the 2,380 delegates voted in favor of Ciolacu’s candidacy.
The congress also elected other key members of the party’s leadership. PSD is the leading member of the ruling alliance and the largest political party in Romania.
As Romania’s constitution limits a president to two terms, incumbent President Klaus Iohannis, first elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2019, was ineligible for re-election. His second and final term will conclude in December this year.
Ciolacu served as Romania’s prime minister in June 2023 and had been the president of the Chamber of Deputies from 2021 to 2023. He also ran for president in the 2024 elections but did not make it past the first round, securing 19.15 percent of the votes.
After the defeat of PSD leader Viorica Dancila in the 2019 Romanian presidential election, Ciolacu was named leader of the party on November 26, 2019, initially as interim leader. He was confirmed as the party leader in 2020 with an overwhelming 1,310–91 margin against his opponent. Under his leadership, PSD won the 2020 Romanian legislative election but struggled to form a majority coalition, with other parties forming a new coalition government. In 2021, following the collapse of the Cîțu Cabinet, Ciolacu managed to bring the PSD back to the government by forming a coalition with its former rival, the National Liberal Party, thus creating the National Coalition for Romania.
