Romania ruling party meets; members urge party chief to go

Romania’s ruling Social Democratic Party is meeting amid growing calls for the party’s chairman, recently convicted of abuse of power, to resign.

It’s not clear whether there are enough party members at Friday’s meeting to back the calls for ditching Liviu Dragnea, who is barred from becoming prime minister because of a 2016 conviction for electoral fraud.

Despite that conviction, Dragnea retains a tight grip on the party he became chairman of in 2015.

In a letter this week, three leading party officials, including Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea, urged him to step down.