Pro-EU coalition candidate and Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu resigned on Monday after right-wing candidate George Simion won the first round of a re-run presidential election over the weekend.
Interim President Ilie Bolojan accepted Ciolacu’s resignation, said his office, adding that an interim prime minister will be appointed on Tuesday.
Presidential election results showed the government lost its credibility, says Marcel Ciolacu.
Earlier, following a meeting of the political council of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSD), of which he is president, Ciolacu announced that he had decided to step down, citing the defeat of Crin Antonescu, the candidate supported by the coalition government, local broadcaster Antena3 reported.
He also announced that the PSD would not adopt any candidates for the second round of the election, which will be held on May 18.
Simion emerged victorious in the first round by a large margin, receiving more than 40.9 percent of the vote. The 38-year-old nationalist is known to be a vocal supporter of US President Donald Trump.
As no candidate garnered the 50%+1 required majority to be elected, the country will hold a second round of elections on May 18.
He will face off against Nicusor Dan, the centrist mayor of the capital city of Bucharest, who came in second in the election with nearly 21 percent, on May 18.
On November 24, Romania held the first round of its presidential election, which was won by independent nationalist candidate Calin Georgescu. But Romania’s Constitutional Court annulled the results as well as a runoff scheduled for December 8, saying the election process was manipulated in favour of Georgescu by a Russia-backed campaign.
The decision to cancel the results of the vote plunged the country into political uncertainty.
Experts say Romania reflects a broader trend across Europe, where nationalist or independent candidates are frequently labeled as “pro-Russian” by Western powers—primarily because of their positions on the Russia-Ukraine war, in which they express a desire to remain neutral and avoid involvement.
