Several senators and deputies left the party on whose lists they were elected, less than a year after entering Parliament. Some were excluded, others voluntarily joined the ruling parties. In the Senate, a new group was formed composed of members from various political formations, while the unaffiliated groups in both chambers include only MPs who have left their own parties, without speaking of independents.
More than 50 deputies and senators have left the party that brought them to Parliament. Following the moves, two parliamentary groups have already been dissolved. It is about the Senate groups of POT, the party led by Anamaria Gavrilă and SOS Romania, the party led by the current MEP Diana Șoșoacă. The two formations lost dozens of deputies and senators following resignations or exclusions from the top.
The scandal of exclusions from the POT reached the court
In the case of POT, the scandal reached the court. One of those excluded recently won the lawsuit against the president of the formation. It is about Monica Ionescu, who was excluded with her husband, the two being accused of violence. Most recently, Gavrila excluded the group leader from the Chamber, Răzvan Mirel Chiriță, just a month after taking over the position in the parliamentary group. He was accused of not getting involved in the electoral campaign in Bucharest.
Two other deputies became PSD affiliates: Dorin Popa and Lucian Andruscă. Paul Ciprian Pintea, the senator who mentioned in his CV that he studied at a dating site and who chose to have a criminal record after driving without a license several times, also turned to the social democrats. Another elected official, Andrei Teslariu, joined the PNL.
The party still has 14 deputies, although it entered Parliament with 24 deputies and 7 senators. According to the regulation, a minimum of 7 senators is needed to create a parliamentary group. Once the group is left with less than 7 members, it dissolves.
SOS Romania Group, renamed
The group of the SOS Romania party in the Senate was simply renamed. Its members are no longer in the party that brought them to Parliament. SOS Romania entered Parliament with 12 senators and 28 deputies. However, the formation still has only 15 deputies. 13 deputies left, 6 remained unaffiliated, including Enachi Raisa, Ciubuc Ciprian or Dumitru Coarnă. Gușă Andrei Cosmin, son of the political commentator Cozmin Gușă, and Constantinescu Andra Claudia migrated to AUR. Another 4 became affiliated members of PSD: Szőke Ecaterina-Mariana, Moiseev Alexandrin, Cosmin Andrei and Jianu Iosif-Florin. On the other side, in the Senate, in addition to those who formed the Pace – First Romania group or those who chose to remain unaffiliated, one went to the PSD.
PSD brought two PUSL members to the Parliament, who resigned after the elections, according to the custom of recent years, becoming only affiliated with the social-democrats group. It is about Graţiela Gavrilescu and Bogdan Ciucă. They were joined by a former member of SOS Romania, Ştefan Băişanu. In fact, Baișanu is not in his first term. He obtained three mandates, one on the PNL lists, one on the ALDE lists and another on the SOS Romania lists. Gavrilescu, a former minister in the PSD-led governments, has a similar path. She obtained six mandates on the lists of PNL, ALDE and PSD.
The AUR party, led by George Simion, brought two new colleagues to the team, but also lost three members in the Chamber of Deputies, the businessman George Becali and Alecu Robert, who remained unaffiliated. Senator Firuta Neacșu joined the liberals.
No representative in Parliament
Specifically, 58 members have changed their parliamentary group so far. Four others were replaced as a result of the resignation. The former spokesperson of the PSD, Lucian Romașcanu, was replaced after his resignation by Ţepeluş Laurentiu-Cristinel. He went to the Court of Auditors of the European Union. Also at PSD, Mircea Florin was replaced by Priceputu Vasilića.
Also, former prime minister and PNL leader Nicolae Ciucă was replaced by Păsculescu Veta. The former leader retired from politics after the electoral failure of last year’s presidential elections, and Afloarei Sorin-Alexandru was replaced by Năcuţă Sorin. They are joined by the representative of the Turkish minority, Iusein Ibram, who died in January, leaving the community without a voice in Parliament.
