41 Facts About Victor Ponta

Victor Ponta was president of the Social Democratic Party from 2010 to 2015, and joint leader of the then-governing Social Liberal Union, an alliance with the National Liberal Party.

Victor Ponta was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Gorj County from 2004 to 2020, and was returned to a Dambovita County seat in 2024.

Victor Ponta began his time as head of government with a victory for his alliance in local elections, as well as criticism from civil society after several prominent Basescu-associated figures in government-funded culture and history institutes were removed or resigned from their posts.

Meanwhile, Victor Ponta was the subject of controversy due to allegations of plagiarism in his doctoral thesis.

Seven months after gaining office, Ponta helped lead the USL to a decisive victory in parliamentary elections, prompting his appointment to a full four-year term as premier.

Victor Ponta has claimed ancestry from the village of Moscopole located in Albania, accounting for the Aromanian descent on his maternal side.

Victor Ponta was born in Bucharest, completing secondary studies in 1991 at the city's Ion Neculce High School.

Victor Ponta received a degree from the Carol I National Defence University in 2002, and in 2003 received a doctorate in Criminal Law from the University of Bucharest and a master's degree in Political Management from the Social Democratic Institute.

Victor Ponta has written several books in his field, including one on the International Criminal Court, the subject of his doctoral thesis.

From 1995 to 1998, Victor Ponta worked as a prosecutor handling cases at the Sector 1 courthouse.

Victor Ponta died the following day, and the incident was ruled a suicide a day later.

The complained mentioned Panait's fellow prosecutor Ponta, claiming the former had told her, "that dog Victor Ponta did me in".

Victor Ponta said the two had been friends until Panait accused Ponta of influence peddling due to what he saw as the latter's involvement with underworld figures.

In reply, Victor Ponta mentioned he had called for the investigation into Panait's death to be reopened, stating the two had not met for some six months before that event, and that there had been no breach in their friendship.

From 2001 to 2004, Victor Ponta held the rank of Secretary of State as head of the government's Control Department.

In 2006, a civil servant at the Ministry of Education charged that Victor Ponta, while holding this office, covered up corrupt activities undertaken by former minister Hildegard Puwak, who was cleared of wrongdoing in a report issued by Victor Ponta.

At the 2004 election, Victor Ponta won a seat in the Chamber of Deputies, where he served as both secretary and vice president of its permanent bureau; he was re-elected in 2008.

Together with his PSD colleagues, Victor Ponta resigned from the cabinet on 1 October 2009, in protest at the dismissal of vice prime minister and Interior Minister Dan Nica.

In November 2011, Victor Ponta led a successful effort to remove Geoana both from the PSD and from the Senate leadership.

Victor Ponta resigned the party leadership in July 2015, amidst an ongoing corruption investigation.

Victor Ponta's cabinet, including ministers from the PSD, the PNL, independents and one from the Conservative Party, received parliamentary approval the following month, and Ponta thus became prime minister.

Victor Ponta's government transferred oversight of the Romanian Cultural Institute from the presidency to the Parliament, claiming this would increase transparency.

Victor Ponta pushed through a new electoral law establishing a first-past-the-post voting system, but this was rejected by the Constitutional Court.

Victor Ponta admitted that the referencing system used by his thesis did not provide clear attribution of its sources, but rejected the allegations of plagiarism.

Victor Ponta replied that the committee was an "ad-hoc" one designed especially for him, and that the decision was a "political" one.

In summer 2016, a revamped committee decided, with 34 votes in favour and one abstention, that Victor Ponta did indeed plagiarise his thesis, prompting Education Minister Mircea Dumitru to sign an order withdrawing his title of doctor.

That institution's rector replied to an enquiry by stating an internal verification had revealed Victor Ponta was never at the University of Catania.

In turn, Victor Ponta stated that he took a course there and received a diploma.

Victor Ponta confronted two environmentally sensitive issues: the Rosia Montana Project, which he initially opposed but later became more open to the idea; and shale gas extraction through fracking, which he first backed but then shifted to preferring exploitation of natural gas from the Black Sea.

In late July 2014, Victor Ponta launched his candidacy for the upcoming presidential race, at the same time beginning to attack his chief rival, Iohannis.

In June 2015, the DNA opened a criminal investigation against Victor Ponta, alleging forgery, complicity in tax evasion and money laundering allegedly committed while he was a lawyer; and a conflict of interest for naming former business associate Dan Sova to several positions while prime minister.

Iohannis called on Victor Ponta to resign, which the latter refused to do.

The DNA then formally indicted Victor Ponta, initiating procedures to freeze a part of his assets.

At the election, Victor Ponta retained his seat in the Chamber.

Victor Ponta said he received this status because of his government's response to the 2014 Southeast Europe floods.

At the 2020 parliamentary election, PRO Romania failed to win any seats, prompting Victor Ponta to announce his withdrawal from politics for the foreseeable future.

In 2024, Victor Ponta rejoined the PSD, winning a Dambovita County Chamber seat in the parliamentary election.

In March 2025, Victor Ponta launched his independent campaign for the upcoming presidential election, emphasizing nationalist themes.

The couple's relationship had become serious in 2004, after Victor Ponta's son was born; they had a daughter in March 2008 and married in a Romanian Orthodox ceremony in the church in Bucharest's Gradina Icoanei that June.

Victor Ponta is the winner of the 1989 youth national championship in basketball, where he played for CSA Steaua Bucuresti; and of the 2008 Dacia Logan Cup, where he was a co-pilot.

Victor Ponta was made a knight of the National Order for Faithful Service in 2002, and in 2004 received the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity.