Romania's ruling Social Democratic Party to hold congress in November

Romania's Social Democratic Party (PSD), the largest in the ruling coalition, will hold its congress and implicitly elect a new president on November 7, announced the party's interim head, Sorin Grindeanu, who is at this moment the sole candidate for a full term, according to Ziarul Financiar.

Sorin Grindeanu took over as interim leader in May, after former president Marcel Ciolacu stepped down in response to disappointing performances of his party in the parliamentary and presidential elections.

Grindeanu's win in the internal elections is expected to result in improved coherence of the ruling coalition that has suffered over the past months of internal turmoil caused by Social Democrat factions seeking to demonstrate independence, improve their bargaining power, or maybe support other candidates.

However, the political platform announced by Grindeanu features nationalist notes resembling to some extent the tougher position of the isolationist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR). The more populist tendencies Sorin Grindeanu may pursue after internal elections, in an attempt to gain support from the electorate currently supporting AUR, may complicate the cohabitation with the Liberal Party (PNL) and generate tensions with reformist Save Romania Union (USR) and prime minister Ilie Bolojan seeking deeper reforms.

"We have given up on the idea of ​​a progressive party, because the definition adopted in the 2000s no longer has any connection with what it represents today," Grindeanu said.

According to him, through the amendment, PSD reaffirms that it is a "modern center-left, national and balanced party, which promotes social equity, solidarity and respect for the democratic, religious, traditional and cultural values ​​of the Romanian people".

Sorin Grindeanu said that "this change is not a formal one" and assured that "PSD remains the party of those who believe in work, in family, in religion, in solidarity and in Romania."

The sole other candidate who had previously expressed plans to run for the PSD's top position, Titus Corlatean, abandoned his candidacy, criticizing the fears and transactional arrangements within the party.

A foreign affairs minister in the cabinet of former prime minister Adrian Nastase, Corlatean, accused an internal atmosphere "dominated by transactions, fears and personal calculations", in which there is no longer "courage, real debate or desire for reform,"