Diana Șoșoacă, a vocal, high-profile senator of the nationalist party AUR, was excluded from the party for failing to act according to the party’s strategy and decisions.
The Alliance for Romanians’ Unity (AUR), a conservative and nationalist political party established just one year ago, managed a surprise win in last year’s parliamentary elections and became the fourth-largest party in Romania’s Parliament.
Șoșoacă has been one of the party’s most outspoken representatives, drawing a large segment of its supporters by arguing against the measures introduced by the authorities during the Covid-19 pandemic. She was also a lawyer of Romanian cleric Teodosie, the archbishop of Tomis, challenging in court the restrictions on organizing a pilgrimage on St. Andrew.
Alongside four other AUR MPs, Șoșoacă is a member of Partidul Neamul Românesc (The Romanian People Party), established by Ninel Peia, who was excluded from the Social Democrat (PSD) party over his anti-vaccination stand. She ran for a seat in the Parliament on behalf of AUR, following a protocol with the Romanian People Party, G4Media.ro explained. Read next
She “damaged the party’s interests and image,” according to an AUR statement quoted by Digi24. “She systematically refused to act, both in Parliament and in the public area, in accordance with the strategy of AUR’s senate group and the decisions of the party’s management,” the statement reads. She will continue her mandate outside of AUR’s senate group.
The decision to exclude Șoșoacă was announced on Wednesday, February 10, the same day she delivered a speech in Parliament claiming that “women are killed, and the national matrix of the Romanian people is destroyed” through vaccination, Digi24.ro reported. Her speech was interrupted, and the microphone cut off.
Other AUR members mentioned among the reasons for her exclusion the attendance to a party last week without observing the social distancing requirements.
