Romania Names Interim Premier As Turmoil Deepens

Romania's liberal interior minister Catalin Predoiu became interim premier on Tuesday, a day after the prime minister's resignation deepened political tumult in the EU nation.

Pro-EU Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu stepped down on Monday after far-right leader George Simion topped the first round of a tense presidential vote rerun.

His resignation opens the way for the far-right to be part of government if EU critic Simion wins the May 18 run-off and becomes president.

The president in Romania appoints the premier and other key posts and represents the country at EU and NATO summits.

The eastern European nation has gained in strategic importance since Russia invaded Ukraine, neighbouring Romania, with the presidential rerun closely watched in Brussels and Washington.

Ciolacu said his Social Democrats (PSD) party would leave the ruling coalition but they are expected to remain in the government on an interim basis until after the election run-off.

"We are in the most complicated situation Romania has ever been in" since the end of communism in 1989, political analyst Sergiu Miscoiu told AFP.

Ciolacu's resignation is a "gift to the future president" and "an act of political irresponsibility", he added.

"It is a strategic mistake because it gives all the power to the next president" who will have "an extremely wide margin of manoeuvre", Miscoiu said.

In the second round, Simion, who leads the nationalist AUR party, faces Bucharest pro-EU mayor Nicusor Dan, who narrowly edged out the ruling coalition's candidate on Sunday.

The coalition also includes the liberals (PNL), with Predoiu holding the interior ministry.

Predoiu told reporters on Monday that ministers of the liberals would continue to carry out their duties as long as they are in office.

Predoiu, 56, is a former justice minister who already served as interim premier in 2012.

Predoiu, who practised as a lawyer in the past, is also the current interim president of the liberals (PNL).

The chances of Simion -- who gained almost 41 percent of votes, double the score of his rival Dan -- to win have increased due to the political turmoil, according to analysts.

Only a "very important mobilisation" of people who did not vote in the first round, including many 18-to-35-year-olds, could change the outcome, Miscoiu said.

Voter turnout for the first round was 53 percent.

As the country, one of the poorest in the EU, struggles with the bloc's highest deficit, a far-right victory in the second round could also mark a shift in the country's foreign policy.

Campaigning on a vow to put Romania first, Simion, a fan of US President Donald Trump, has criticised "Brussels' unelected bureaucrats", accusing them of having meddled in the Romanian elections.

In December, Romania's constitutional court in a shock move scrapped the presidential ballot after far-right politician Calin Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round.

The annulment followed allegations of Russian interference and a massive TikTok campaign that emerged in favour of Georgescu, who has been barred from the rerun.

Thousands have protested the cancellation and subsequent barring of Georgescu, with Simion calling the annulment "a coup d'etat".