Romania Opposition Party Elects New Chief

The centre-right opposition Popular Movement Party, PMP, elected a new leader at a congress on Sunday in the Romanian capital.

Eugen Tomac, 34, received over 90 per cent of the delegates to the congress. In his first speech, Tomac said he was convinced that the party could win the next elections and "make Romania stay proud among the EU countries".

The PMP is a relatively new political party in Romania. It got only 6.24 per cent of the votes at last year's European Parliament elections.

Romania's former president, Traian Basescu, made his first public appearence at the PMP congress since ending his term as head of state in December. He reassured the participants that he was a supporter of the party, whose ranks he has promised to join.

Basescu, who served two mandates as president between 2004-2014, is a long time supporter of the PMP.

He faced criticism for allegedly breaking his presidential role as a politically neutral figure after he publicly supported the then PMP leader, Elena Udrea, in the last presidential elections.

Although one of the most influential politicians of the past decade, Udrea got only 6 per cent in the first round of the elections in November.

Udrea has declined to run again for the PMP leadership as she is currently under investigation for alleged corruption. Parliament is expected to vote this week to allow prosecutors to investigate her.

Anti-corruption officers say she took bribes, made false statements and unfairly obtained funds from the European Union in 2011 when she was Tourism Minister.

Udrea was also criticised for spending around 2 million euro on a boxing gala designed to promote Romania as a tourist destination.

Udrea has denied wrongdoing. Since then, she has...