Romania PM resigns after far-right wins first round of president vote

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu resigned on Monday, a day after a far-right opposition leader won the first round of the presidential election re-run and his own candidate crashed out of the race.

Ciolacu said his center-left Socialists would withdraw from the pro-Western coalition – effectively ending it – while cabinet ministers will stay on in an interim capacity until a new majority emerges after the presidential run-off.

Hard-right euroskeptic George Simion decisively swept the ballot on Sunday, with some 41 percent of votes, and will face Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan, an independent centrist, in a May 18 run-off. Coalition candidate Crin Antonescu came third.

Although Ciolacu's leftist Social Democrats (PSD) won the most seats in a December 1 parliamentary election, Simion's AUR and two other far-right groupings, one with overt pro-Russian sympathies, won more than a third of the seats to become a clear political force.

Sunday's vote came five months after a first attempt to hold the election was canceled because of alleged Russian interference in favour of far-right frontrunner Calin Georgescu, since banned from standing again. Georgescu and Moscow deny interference. 

Simion, who then only scored 14 percent, appears to have ridden an upswell of support for the far-right driven by Georgescu.

On Sunday he voted alongside Georgescu, who called the election a "fraud" and urged people to take their country back. As dozens of people thronged outside the voting station chanting "Calin for president", Simion said his vote was "to restore democracy".

Coalition government

The Social Democrats had formed a coalition government with the centrist Liberals and ethnic Hungarian UDMR to help keep the European Union and NATO state on a pro-Western course. A governing majority that cordons off the far right in the legislature cannot be formed without it.

"This coalition is no longer legitimate," Ciolacu told reporters after a party meeting. "The next president was going to replace me anyway, that's what I've read."

Romania already has an interim president until the May 18 run-off. The country has the EU's largest budget deficit and risks a ratings downgrade to below investment level unless it enforces a decisive fiscal correction.

Political analysts suggest a Simion victory could isolate Romania, erode private investment and destabilize NATO's eastern flank, where Bucharest plays a key role in providing logistical support to Ukraine as it fights Russia's military action.

It would also expand a cohort of euroskeptic leaders in the European Union that already includes the Hungarian and Slovak prime ministers at a time when Europe is struggling to formulate its response to U.S. President Donald Trump.