Lavinia Şandru

Marcela Lavinia Şandru (born February 6, 1975) is a Romanian politician. The current president of the National Initiative Party (PIN), she was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Mureş County from 2004 to 2008.

In 2005,^[1] she married Darius Vâlcov, the mayor of Slatina. The couple have a daughter.^[2]

Biography

She was born in Dej and attended the Theatre University of Târgu Mureş, graduating in 1997. She internet at the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education in 2003, and in 2004 began work on a master's degree at the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Political Sciences. From 2001 to 2004 she headed public relations for Aldaco, a film company, and in 2004 was director of Star Media & Film. Her political career began in 2001-2002, when she was director of public relations for the Democratic Party (PD). In 2002, she headed its international relations department, and in 2004, she became president of the Mureş County PD organisation. She also represented the party at the Party of European Socialists (PES) and the Socialist International.^[3]

Şandru won a seat in Parliament at the 2004 legislative election. The following February, when Cozmin Guşă resigned his party post due to a disagreement with the leadership, Şandru did likewise, sitting as an independent for the remainder of the term.^[4] Later that year, she became vice president of the National Initiative Party founded by Guşă, a position she held until 2008.^[5] She resigned from the PIN in October 2008 in order to run as an independent for a Bucharest seat in the Chamber, as she realised the PIN was not going to win enough seats to enter Parliament. Party members did support her candidacy,^[6] but she was defeated.^[7]

In February 2009, having rejoined the PIN, she was overwhelmingly elected its president, following Guşă's resignation from that position.^[8] Soon afterwards, she expressed a desire to run in the 2009 European Parliament election on the lists of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), even considering joining the party until after the election.^[9] Her possible candidacy as a PIN member on the PSD lists angered a number of senior PSD members as well as the Conservative Party (PC), one of whose allocated spots on the PSD lists Şandru was slated to take.^[10] Former Romanian President Ion Iliescu even threatened to resign from the party, and Şandru lost hope of running once a PES directive required member parties' candidates to belong to the respective parties. She once called Iliescu a "communist dinosaur",^[11] and referred to the PSD as a "whore party" after it switched its backing from the PNL to the PD in 2007.^[12] Şandru has also been known to criticise President Traian Băsescu, for instance accusing him of abuse of power^[13] and calling on him to release his Securitate file.^[14]

Notes

1. ^ (Romanian) Maria Capelos, "La nuntă, Lavinia Şandru a purtat 'o ţinută foarte preţioasă'" ("For Her Wedding, Lavinia Şandru Wore 'A Very Precious Outfit'"), România Liberă, 30 May 2005; accessed 1 May 2009
2. ^ (Romanian) "Lavinia Şandru şi-a botezat fetiţa" ("Lavinia Şandru Baptizes Her Daughter"), Evenimentul Zilei, 15 April 2007; accessed 1 May 2009
3. ^ (Romanian) [http://www.cdep.ro/pls/parlam/structura.mp?idm=188&cam=2&leg=2004&pag=0&idl=1 Curriculum vitae at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site; accessed 1 May 2009
4. ^ (Romanian) Florin Rusu, "Guşă demisionează din conducerea PD, însă nu din partid" ("Guşă Resigns from the PD Leadership, but Not from the Party"), Curierul Naţional, 9 February 2005; retrieved 1 May 2009
5. ^ (Romanian) Andreea Ţuligă, "Lavinia Şandru: 'Tinerii politicieni sunt mediocri'" ("Lavinia Şandru: 'Young Politicians Are Mediocre'"), Evenimentul Zilei, 15 February 2009; accessed 1 May 2009
6. ^ (Romanian) "Lavinia Şandru va candida ca independent în colegiul 22 – Cotroceni" ("Lavinia Şandru Will Run as an Independent in College #22 - Cotroceni"), Mediafax, 21 October 2008; accessed 1 May 2009
7. ^ (Romanian) Election results
8. ^ (Romanian) "Lavinia Şandru, noul preşedinte al PIN" ("Lavinia Şandru, New President of the PIN"), Mediafax, 7 February 2009; accessed 1 May 2009
9. ^ (Romanian) "Lavinia Şandru: Sunt şanse să candidez pentru PSD la alegerile europarlamentare" ("Lavinia Şandru: There Is a Chance I Will Run on the PSD Ticket at the European Elections"), Realitatea, 25 March 2009; accessed 1 May 2009
10. ^ (Romanian) "Lavinia Şandru declanşează războiul în Alianţa PSD-PC" ("Lavinia Şandru Launches a War in the PSD-PC Alliance"), Gândul, 19 March 2009; accessed 1 May 2009
11. ^ (Romanian) "Lavinia Şandru, eliminată de pe eurolista PSD, Adrian Severin şi Rovana Plumb deschid plutonul" ("Lavinia Şandru, Eliminated from the PSD Euro-list; Adrian Severin and Rovana Plumb Head the Team"), Gândul, 27 March 2009; accessed 1 May 2009
12. ^ (Romanian) "Lavinia Şandru: PSD s-a transformat într-un partid curvă" ("Lavinia Şandru: the PSD Has Become a Whore Party"), Mediafax, 20 September 2007; accessed 1 May 2009
13. ^ (Romanian) "Apărând-o pe Simona Marinescu, Lavinia Şandru cere anchetarea preşedintelui Băsescu" ("Defending Simona Marinescu, Lavinia Şandru Calls for President Băsescu's Questioning"), Adevărul, 8 June 2005; accessed 1 May 2009
14. ^ (Romanian) "Lavinia Şandru: Băsescu trebuie să-şi publice dosarul" ("Lavinia Şandru: Băsescu Must Publish His File"), Ziua, 28 August 2006; accessed 1 May 2009

External links

• (Romanian) Profile at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site

Persondata
Name	Sandru, Lavinia
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	6 February 1975
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death