Marcel Ciolacu

Ion Marcel Ciolacu (born 28 November 1967) is a Romanian politician who served as the prime minister of Romania from 2023 to 2025. Ciolacu entered national politics in 2012, when he was first elected for a deputy seat in the Parliament of Romania. In 2015, he was elected Social Democratic Party (PSD) president for Buzău County. Ciolacu came into national prominence in 2018, when he became the Deputy Prime Minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Mihai Tudose.

Following the overwhelming defeat of new PSD leader Viorica Dăncilă in the 2019 Romanian presidential election, on 26 November 2019, Ciolacu was named leader of the party, firstly ad-interim, until he was confirmed to hold the position by the party congress the next year on 22 August 2020 with an overwhelming 1310–91 margin against his opponent. Ciolacu led the party to victory in the 2020 Romanian legislative election but was not able to form a majority coalition in the new legislative. Other parties opposed to the PSD formed a new coalition on 23 December with the new government, thus pushing Ciolacu's PSD into opposition. However, in 2021, following the political crisis that led to the collapse of the Cîțu Cabinet, he managed to bring the PSD back to the government, forming a cabinet with its former rival, the National Liberal Party, thus forming the National Coalition for Romania.