Romanian Prime Minister Ciolacu and political parties resign after nationalists vote

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu resigned, and his Social Democrats left the government after a right-wing nationalist candidate won the first round of the presidential election.

George Simion, an Eurosceptic who promised to put Romania first, won 40.9% of Sunday's vote and is expected to win the vote on May 18.

He will face Liberal Bucharest Mayor Nicuș or Dan, who nearly defeated the Social Democratic (PSD) candidate.

Sunday's results plunged Romania into EU countries on the eastern side of NATO – further political turmoil. Ciolacu told colleagues that they should withdraw from the government because their alliance failed to meet its goals and that it was “no legitimacy.”

Ciolacu, 57, was in power in a pro-EU coalition after the 2024 elections, although George Simion's far-right party, along with two other groups, attracted a third of the vote.

Parties of the alliance have been holding urgent meetings Monday to decide what they will next.

Simion's victory on Sunday was largely due to the general sense of frustration abolishing the presidential election late last year. In the European capital, as well as in Kiev, his success on May 18 may be subject to nervous waiting.

He said he wanted an EU made up of powerful sovereign states, and his party opposed the supply of weapons to Ukraine.

Ciolacu is now expected to resign to interim President Ilie Bolojan, who subsequently appoints a caregiver prime minister.

Bolojan himself took on the role of interim president in February last year because of scandals surrounding the presidential vote.

“Romania faces 45 days of political instability after Maserracu’s resignation,” warned Elena Calistru, a trendy citizen of the Independent Romanian Monitoring Group.

“When Romania needs stable leadership the most, this creates a dangerous power vacuum.”

Ciolacu's party is part of a tripartite coalition, and the prime minister told his colleagues that their purpose is to have a common presidential candidate and parliamentary majority.

“One of these two goals failed,” he explained. “I've seen yesterday's vote, which tells us that the current alliance no longer has this form of legitimacy.”

“Anyway, the new president will replace me – that's what I see and hear from the media. There will be a new alliance.”

Catalin Predoiu, the leader of his freelance alliance partner PNL, said they are now looking for the prime minister to “be able to meet the current challenges”.

Meanwhile, the Social Democratic mayor in northeast Bucharest was highly criticized by his party leader: “We are embarrassed, in part because the leadership has made inappropriate decisions over time.”

George Simion, 38, became an admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump. He became the leader of the president earlier this year when far-right pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu was banned

Georgescu won the first round last November, a round that was abolished by the court for Russian interference in social media and campaign fraud.

Simion voted with Georgescu on Sunday, telling voters that the election was “every Romanian was lied, ignored, humiliated, and still has the ability to believe and defend our identity and rights”.

He called for the restoration of Romania's old borders and was banned from entering Moldova and Ukraine.

Political analyst Radu Albu-Commanescu told Romanian Public Radio that the result on Sunday was a “fundamental manifestation of hostility to current political institutions”.

Simion excels in Romania’s diaspora voters, with over 73% in Spain, and in the UK, and in a wide range of blue-collar voters, almost 65% in the UK.

Romania's public support for Ukrainian refugees' central support for the Soviet campaign has been the central plank of the Soviet campaign, although he denied that he was pro-Russian.

“Russia is the biggest danger to Romania, Poland and the Baltic states, and the problem is that this war has not happened,” he told the BBC.

Elena Calistru said Romania witnessed a significant political reset as Simion and Nicu or Dan position themselves as anti-establishment candidates with very different solutions.

“The results will reveal whether anti-establishment sentiment will necessarily translate into an anti-European positioning, or whether Romania can direct its desire for change into a constructive democratic renewal,” she told the BBC.