Dăncilă, Viorica << dahn CHEEL uh, vee AWR ee kuh >> (1963-…), was the first woman prime minister of Romania. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis appointed her to the post in January 2018, and she served until November 2019. Dăncilă, then a member of the Social Democratic Party (the Partidul Social Democrat, or PSD), replaced Prime Minister Mihai Tudose, who resigned amid tensions within the PSD. In Romania, the prime minister is the head of government, and the president is the head of state.
Dăncilă was born on Dec. 16, 1963, in Roșiori de Vede, a city in south-central Romania. She worked as a teacher before entering politics and later worked as an engineer. Dăncilă became a member of the PSD in 1996. She worked as a councilor in both the PSD and in local government until her election to the European Parliament in 2009. She was reelected to serve in the European Parliament in 2014.
In January 2018, the PSD nominated Dăncilă for prime minister, and President Iohannis accepted the nomination. The PSD faced allegations of corruption and lost the support of its coalition partner, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, in August 2019. Dăncilă lost a confidence vote in Parliament in October, and she stepped down as prime minister the following month. She stood as her party’s candidate in the November presidential election but lost to the incumbent Iohannis. She then resigned as PSD leader. Dăncilă was elected the leader of the Nation People Together party in 2022.
