Executive president of Romania's PSD, excluded from the party

Valeriu Zgonea, executive president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), was excluded from the party after having criticized PSD leader Liviu Dragnea’s decision to remain president despite a criminal conviction. “I’ve been in the party for over 20 years and today was witness to a profoundly unjust decision that reminded me of the Inquisition,” Zgonea said. He added that he would remain the president of the Chamber of Deputies until PSD asked for his removal. The party’s executive committee unanimously voted to exclude Zgonea from PSD on Wednesday, April 28. Zgonea, who held the second most important position in PSD, was the only one in the party who suggested that Dragnea needed to step down after he had received a two-year probation sentence for electoral fraud at the referendum against former President Traian Basescu, in 2012. editor@romania-insider.com