Romanian Fmr Social Democrats Mull Center-Left Party Setup

"I am ever more convinced Romania needs a new leftist party and, together with Marian Sarbu and our present colleagues and those who will join us, we'll be able to contribute to finding solutions to overcome the crisis and protect Romanians' interests," Oprea said.

Romania's leftist Social Democratic Party has lost several lawmakers, who quit the party to join the independent lawmaker's group led by Oprea, who was ousted from the party last year after serving as the country's interior minister for just two weeks.

Social democrats last week elected Victor Ponta for party president over Mircea Geoana, who lost a presidential election in December 2009 to Traian Basescu. Three social democrat lawmakers quit the party the day after Ponta was elected, followed by former foreign minister Cristian Diaconescu, who left on Wednesday.

On Friday, former labor minister Marian Sarbu also quit the party, saying the party wanted him to act against his convictions and disapproved of the country's unitary wage law and the pension reform he had worked on as minister.

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