Romanian Social Democratic Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced his resignation on Monday May 5, the day after the overwhelming victory of the extreme right in the first round of the presidential election and the elimination of the candidate supported by his government.
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“In view of the results of the vote”the coalition formed with the Liberals and the Hungarian minority party “No longer has legitimacy in its current form”he told the press after a meeting of his training in Bucharest.
Consequently, Mr. Ciolacu submitted his resignation to the president and “Proposed to his colleagues” to leave the government, which will therefore no longer have the majority necessary in Parliament. To avoid chaos, the party ministers will instead until the formation of a new government after the second round, scheduled for May 18, according to the media.
At the end of the December legislative elections, Mr. Ciolacu, 57, had kept the head of the government, after an agreement thought of as a bulwark in the face of the progression of the extreme right and to present a single presidential candidate.
But only arriving third, with 20.3 % of the votes, the candidate of the pro-European government coalition, Crin Antonescu, shattered this pact. The extreme right candidate George Simion won the first round of the ballot on Sunday with 40.5 % of the votes, ahead of the centrist mayor of Bucharest Nicusor Dan (20.9 %).
