Vanghelie entered the Romanian politics in the early 1990s, as a member of
Miron Mitrea's
Party of Social Solidarity and later as a member of the
Party of Social Democracy in Romania. 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, very popular with many of the residents of the
sector, which has the lowest average income in Bucharest. Due to allegations of corruption made against him by the Romanian
PNA, Vanghelie was excluded from the
Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSD) before the Bucharest 2004 local elections. Running at the time as an independent candidate, Vanghelie was the only of the six Bucharest district mayors to win from the first round, at a comfortable 27% margin. Following his electoral victory, he was re-accepted in PSD, although his
National Anticorruption Directorate files were not closed. Vanghelie's return into the Social Democratic Party (PSD) brought up to two the number of district mayoral seats the PSD held to in Bucharest. The slogan used by
Adriean Videanu against him in the Bucharest 2005 mayor elections was
count on the one who counts (), a catch-phrase meant to disparage Vanghelie's lower-class background and lack of formal education. Vanghelie did provoke a measure of public concern when he was unable to conjugate the verb
a fi (to be) on national television, earning him the derisive nickname "Vanghelie Care Este" (Vanghelie Who Is). In 2008 he had General
Iacob Lahovary's remains removed from his tomb at
Bellu Cemetery; Vanghelie's grandfather, Constantin Niculae, was buried there, instead. In 2019 he founded the
Independent Social Democratic Party (PSDI), which he described as more leftist than PSD and a
left-wing nationalist party and which supported his candidacy for mayor of
Sector 5. In May 2021, Vanghelie was sentenced by the Bucharest Tribunal to 11 years and 8 months for corruption. The judge decided to convict Vanghelie for each of the three charges brought against him: bribery, abuse of office, and money laundering. In April 2024, the
Independent Social Democratic Party, founded by Marian Vanghelie and led by
Leonard Petre, joined the
Romanian Sovereignist Bloc. The Bloc supports Vanghelie's candidacy for mayor of
Sector 5. ==Electoral history==