Romania Ruling Party Leader Survives No Confidence Vote

Romanian Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea survived a no-confidence vote in the party's Executive Committee on Friday, after several top members of the faction leadership asked for his resignation as party chief because of his graft record that lead to low scores in opinion polls.

Dragnea, seen as the most powerful politician in the Balkan country, secured 39 votes; only 10 members voted against him.

"The biggest win of this [meeting] was that it was the first time the debate was completely sincere, it had arguments, and all the problems we are concerned about. No one was afraid any longer," Mayor of Bucharest Gabriela Firea, Dragnea's most vocal critic, told the media after the eight-hour meeting.

Several former allies of the Social Democrat strongman signed a letter calling on Dragnea to step down because they believe that his two graft sentences and his authoritarian leadership style have become vulnerabilities for Romania's largest party.

Dragnea, who took over the leadership of the Social Democrats after former PM Victor Ponta was indicted for corruption in 2015, could not become PM in January 2017 because of a sentence from 2016 for attempting to rig a referendum.

In June 2018, he was sentenced again for abuse of office and his appeal is scheduled to start on October 8. He is also currently under investigation in a case involving embezzlement of EU funds.

However, he has been the main decision-maker behind the Social-Democrat led government, which has changed three prime-ministers in the past year over internal divisions in the ruling party.

The Social Democrats have also pushed for legislation deemed damaging for the rule of law in Romania, after the country's anti-graft prosecutors indicted hundreds of...