Mădălin Voicu, born on 10 July 1952 in Bucharest, is the son of Ion Voicu, a well-known Romani-Romanian musician. In his youth, he was close friends with Nicu Ceaușescu, the son of Communist Romania's leader Nicolae Ceaușescu, as well as with other young members of the nomenklatura.
He began his political activity in 1994-1996 as a member of the defunct Party of Liberty and Social Unity (Romanian: Partidul Libertății și Unității Sociale, PLUS) and then became active in the Social Democratic Roma Party of Romania (PDSR). Voicu was elected to the seat reserved for minorities in the 1996-2000 legislature before running on the common PDSR-PSD list in 2000.[1]