Government · Bucharest

Five senators from POT and SOS România join PSD group in Romanian Senate

Five senators elected on POT and SOS România lists announced on Monday, 2 November, that they are joining the Social Democratic Party (PSD) group in the Senate. The move lifts PSD to 40 members, the largest group in the upper chamber.

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In brief

Bucharest · Romania

The announcements

On Monday, 2 November, five senators announced individually at the start of the Senate plenary sitting that they were joining the parliamentary group of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). Ionel Carp and Cristian Bem were elected on SOS România lists, while Valentina-Mariana Aldea, Liviu Sorin Robe and Robert Daniel Ghiță were elected on POT lists. All five had been sitting as independents, and none of their statements gave reasons for the decision. Carp used the formal wording customary for such notices.

“Starting today I affiliate with the PSD parliamentary group.”

Ionel Carp

Aldea made her announcement while laughing, before confirming that she was joining the group.

“Dear colleagues, starting today I will affiliate with the parliamentary group of the Social Democratic Party.”

Valentina-Mariana Aldea

The five senators

Carp was elected in electoral district 38, Tulcea, and Cristian Bem in district 39, Vaslui, both on SOS România lists. Aldea was elected in Bucharest on POT lists, Liviu Sorin Robe in Bistrița-Năsăud and Robert Daniel Ghiță in Olt, also on POT lists. Their switch means that all five now sit with the PSD group, having previously been counted among the unaffiliated senators.

Why the groups changed

The affiliations came after PSD returned to government in the cabinet led by Luca Niculescu, and after the PACE parliamentary group was dissolved. Digi24 reports that Carp and Bem had belonged to the group Pace Întâi România, which was dissolved in the last week of October after several senators left it and it no longer had the minimum of seven members. In the same week, senator Gheorghe Ștefănache joined the PNL group after resigning from USR.

The new balance in the Senate

After the latest affiliations, PSD has 40 senators, AUR has 30, PNL has 27, USR has 18 and UDMR has 10, while nine senators remain unaffiliated. PSD is the largest group but cannot pass organic laws on its own, since that requires a majority of 68 votes. The new members could influence negotiations and votes on significant legislative projects.

Senate group sizes after the 2 November affiliationssenators

Data from the article text

Churn across parliamentary groups

Between the 2024 parliamentary elections and the censure motion, 16 elected representatives changed parliamentary group, and 19 more did so in the five months that followed. PNL drew the most, nine officials who came from AUR, SOS România and POT, seven of them in spring 2026, when PSD was already talking about leaving government. Adrian Peiu, a former SOS România senator, was elected interim head of the PNL organisation in Ialomița in June 2026. PSD took six parliamentarians from POT and from the party of Diana Șoșoacă, most of them shortly after the 2024 elections. In September 2026, SOS senator Andreea-Petronela Cîmpianu joined the PNL group.

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