As all polls indicated, far-right Alliance for Romanian Unity (AUR) candidate George Simion has easily won Sunday’s presidential election. This victory has completely reversed the country’s political context and the first consequences have already been felt: Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has resigned and the PSD has consequently left the government that was formed together with the liberal Social Democratic Parties.

In fact, the governing coalition was made up of the Social Democrats, the National Liberal Party and the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania, with the aim of stopping the growth of the extreme right in the country in recent years. However, the presidential elections were held for the first time on November 24, and the far-right candidate Calin Georgescu won with 22.9% of the votes. The Constitutional Court annulled these results by ruling that Georgescu’s social media campaign had been supported by Russia. Even in Sunday’s votes they have not been able to avoid the rise of the ultra-right, and Simion has doubled the amount of support obtained by the second force.

In view of the fact that the far right can come to power, Ciolacu said in a press conference after a meeting with PSD members that the governing coalition no longer “has a reason to continue.” In fact, in the second round of the presidential elections scheduled for 18 May, the independent candidate Nicusor Dan will compete against the leader of the AUR party and not the official candidate Crin Antonescu.

Prime Minister Georgescu?

With his resignation, Ciolacu will have to entrust Romania’s interim president, Ilie Bolojan, with the task of appointing a new prime minister – provisionally. Bolojan took office in February of President Klaus Iohannis (2014-2025), who also resigned due to the commotion caused by the reversal of Georgescu’s victory. In fact, with Simion's victory, the possibility of Georgescu becoming Romania's prime minister has come to the table.

In fact, during the presidential vote campaign, Simion mentioned that he would want Georgescu to be prime minister if he were to win the elections himself. Today, the Social Democrats, the Liberals, the Nationalists of the Centre, the Democratic Union of Hungarians and the parties comprising ethnic minorities hold 65% of the seats in Parliament. The departure of the Social Democrats, however, has called into question the future of the coalition, and the far-right is expected to gain strength once again in the next parliamentary elections.