State head: Romania: Government crisis after the part of the right -wing populist

After the victory of the extremely right candidate in the first round of the presidential election in Romania, the government in the EU and NATO country got into a crisis. Social Democratic Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu resigned after the PSD’s candidate left his party in the first round of election. The bourgeois-social democratic government coalition, which also includes the bourgeois PNL party, is actually broken. However, the ministers remain in office for the time being.

This first round of the repetition of the presidential election annuled last year won the extremely right candidate George Simion, but he missed an absolute majority.

Whether Simion will become head of state decides in a runoff election on May 18. Simion competes against the runner -up – the Liberal Conservative, non -party mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan. In the first round, the Simion came first with 40.96 percent of the votes, as the central electoral office announced after counting all ballot papers. Dan came in second place 20.99 percent. The government candidate Antonescu came in third with 20.07 percent and retired.

Ciolacu said his party wanted to give no recommendation for the runoff election. On the other hand, the PNL, which has so far been remedied, supports the EU-oriented Dan. The latter, on the other hand, can no longer count on Ciolacus support.

“It is now about whether Romania remains oriented west,” said Dan in the night. The upcoming election campaign against the “isolationist” candidate Simion will be difficult, he said.

The central message of Simion in the election campaign was his shoulder with the Kremlin -friendly politician Calin Georgescu, who was the focus of the canceled election in November 2024. “We wrote history together, we are approaching an excellent result,” said Simion in a video speech spread on TV. In Romania, which borders Ukraine the Ukraine, who is the War of attack, borders the head of state of foreign and security policy.

Presidential election of 2024 was canceled because of Kremlin friend

In the first round of the presidential election in November 2024, the right -wing extremist, Prorussian candidate Georgescu, surprisingly received the most votes. However, the constitutional court declared the result invalid due to irregularities in campaign financing. The court also banned a new presidential candidacy Georgescus and approved a corresponding decision by the electoral office, which made this politician loyalty to the democratic basic order.

Georgescu now appears as Simion’s ally. Among other things, he has publicly expressed doubts about the reality of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Simion did not rule out Georgescu to the office of prime minister.