Marian Vanghelie
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Daniel Marian Vanghelie (b. 1968, Bucharest) is the mayor of the 5th Sector of Bucharest since 2000 and a prominent member of the Romanian Social Democratic Party.
Due to his PNA file he was excluded from Romanian Social Democratic Party before the Bucharest 2004 local elections. As an independent candidate, Vanghelie was the only one of the 6 Bucharest district mayors to win from the first round, and he is one of just two PSD Bucharest district mayors.[1] Following his victory in elections, he was re-accepted in PSD, although his PNA files were not closed.[2]
Best described as a populist, Vanghelie started his center-stage political career in the year 2000, when he was elected mayor in the same sector. Although he was not particularly well-known, Vanghelie made a name for himself through his populism. He promotes himself as a tell-it-like-it-is, if not particularly well-educated everyman, out to help the simple people.
One of Vanghelie's most famous publicity stunts is the New Year's Celebrations the Fifth Sector Mayor's Office organizes every year, which can be attended for a very low cost and are popular with low-income residents of the sector, which has the lowest average income in Bucharest. Keeping in with the reputation of the Social-Democratic Party, and with the general tone of Romanian politics, there are also numerous allegations of corruption against Vanghelie, accusations which have not affected his image so far. Because of alleged murky dealings and because he had fallen out of favor with party officials, Vanghelie was excluded from the PSD, and forced to run as an independent in the 2004 local elections, which he nonetheless won with a comfortable 27% margin.
The slogan used by Adriean Videanu against him in the Bucharest 2005 mayor elections was count on the one who counts ((Romanian) "contează pe cine contează")
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Vanghelie and his wife Charlotte have a son, Alexandru (b. 1994). He has a half-brother, Paul. His parents divorced when Vanghelie was a young boy and his father, who is Jewish, emigrated to Israel, where he is a businessman.
