Politics Romania's President Iohannis declares his resignation
Romania's President Klaus Iohannis has announced his resignation after parliament initiated impeachment proceedings against him.
10.02.2025, 15:01
10.02.2025, 15:24
SDA
Iohannis explained his decision by saying that he wanted to spare his country a political crisis. This is because a referendum must follow an impeachment motion. From Wednesday, Senate President Ilie Bolojan will now take over the office of head of state on a temporary basis.
Following the annulled presidential election in December, the Constitutional Court had actually ruled that Iohannis could remain in office until the next election, which is scheduled for May 4. However, the co-governing bourgeois National Liberal Party (PNL) and its coalition partner PSD (Social Democrats) are now said to have suggested that Iohannis step down prematurely.
Alleged burden for governing parties
The media commented that the unpopular Iohannis would have been a burden for the governing parties if he had remained in office during the new election campaign.
Iohannis has been in office since 2014 and, as his second mandate is now coming to an end, he was not allowed to run for president again. He was also supported by the PNL in 2014.
The Constitutional Court annulled the parliamentary election on November 24, 2024 and ordered a re-run. The court stated that voters had been manipulated by unlawful preferential treatment of a candidate on social media.
In the first round of voting, the far-right and pro-Russian politician Calin Georgescu had surprisingly won first place. Georgescu, who was little known until shortly before the election, had mainly campaigned for himself on the Tiktok app. The Romanian government complained that Tiktok had failed to label him as a politician and his contributions as election advertising. The public prosecutor's office is currently investigating this.
