Senate President Ilie Bolojan will take over as interim president until the elections.

On Monday, Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis unexpectedly resigned from his mandate ahead of the elections scheduled for May, asserting that his departure prevents a crisis, as Parliament was on the verge of initiating an impeachment process.

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Following the annulment of the December presidential elections, Iohannis remained in office on an interim basis, as his mandate expired on December 21.

This situation was upheld by the Constitutional Court, which ruled that the acting president should remain in office until the inauguration of their successor. However, Iohannis’ continued stay in office—his resignation is set to take effect on Wednesday—was challenged by the far-right opposition, which pushed for an impeachment process.

If approved by Parliament, the impeachment process would have to be ratified in a referendum that, given the timeline, could coincide with the presidential elections scheduled for May 4.

“All of this would have consequences on a domestic level and, unfortunately, also externally. There would no longer be debates about the upcoming presidential elections. There would be no discussion about Romania’s progress,” warned Iohannis.

Iohannis called the impeachment process against him “completely unnecessary,” arguing that he would have left office in a few months anyway and that he never violated the Constitution. However, he stated that resigning was the best decision to avoid a political crisis with major consequences.

“None of our partners would understand why Romania is impeaching its president. We would effectively become the laughingstock of the world,” Iohannis said during a televised statement.

According to the Constitution, the interim presidency will fall to the president of the Senate, Ilie Bolojan, a member of the ruling National Liberal Party (PNL), who will assume the head of state role until the May elections.

The far-right opposition, including the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), the second-most voted party in the December 1 legislative elections, considered Iohannis’ resignation a victory. Iohannis is a liberal politician with a clear stance in favor of the country’s Euro-Atlantic alignment.

The government’s ruling parties—including conservatives, social democrats, and liberals—viewed the impeachment process as politically motivated and lacking a legitimate basis.

The political crisis in Romania was triggered by the annulment of the presidential elections, a decision made by the Constitutional Court after intelligence services detected signs of foreign interference during the electoral campaign.

In the first round of voting, the unexpected winner was Călin Georgescu, a virtually unknown pro-Russian far-right candidate who gained massive support through TikTok and claimed he did not spend a single cent on his campaign.

teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE

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