In Romania, MediaFax is reporting that the President of the Senate, Mircea Geoană, has been removed from office.

He was the leader of the opposition Partidul Social Democrat (PSD, Social Democratic Party) from April 2005-February 2010. He has been embroiled in a cash-for-patronage scandal since the last presidential election.

The PSD has been wanting him to step down as President of the Senate, but he refused. On Tuesday the party’s National Executive Council voted by 50 to 5 to expel Geoană from the party. Yesterday, he was removed from the presidency of the Senate by 112 votes to 2 with five abstentions.

At the second round of the December 2009 presidential election, Geoană won 49.66% of the vote, narrowly losing to the incumbent president Traian Băsescu.