Headlines
Romania PM resigns after far-right wins first-round of president vote
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 5, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
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Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 5, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Romanian PM Marcel Ciolacu resigned after far-right leader George Simion won the first round of the presidential election, leading to political upheaval.
By Luiza Ilie and Elizaveta Gladun
BUCHAREST (Reuters) -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 centre-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 eurosceptic George Simion decisively swept the ballot on Sunday, with some 41% 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 Dec. 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.
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.
A Simion victory could isolate Romania, erode private investment and destabilise NATO's eastern flank, where Bucharest plays a key role in providing logistical support to Ukraine as it fights a three-year-old Russian invasion, political observers say.
It would also expand a cohort of eurosceptic 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.
(Additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos in New York; Editing by Justyna Pawlak, Alexandra Hudson and Andrew Heavens)
The article discusses the resignation of Romania's PM Marcel Ciolacu following a far-right victory in the presidential election's first round.
Far-right leader George Simion won the first round of the Romanian presidential election.
Simion's victory could isolate Romania politically and economically, affecting its role in NATO and the EU.
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