Romania’s Liberal Party confirms Ilie Bolojan as president, approves changes to leadership team

Representatives of the center-right National Liberal Party (PNL) met on Sunday, June 21, in an extraordinary congress and reconfirmed president Ilie Bolojan as head of the party after strong contestation from supporters of PM-designate Adrian Vestea.

Bolojan, currently interim prime minister after he was deposed by the Social Democratic Party (PSD), a former partner of the PNL within the government coalition, and the far-right opposition party Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) in May, restated his control over the party and guaranteed that PNL parliamentarians would not vote for the Vestea government later this week. The PM-designate had initially announced he would run for PNL leader, but later retracted his bid.