Romania’s president resigns before election re-run

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Monday announced he would resign following pressure for him to step down ahead of the re-run of an election that was voided over allegations of Russian interference.

Pressure had been growing on pro-European Iohannis, leader of liberals who had said he would remain in office until his successor is elected in May.

Romania’s top court decided to cancel the presidential elections in December amid allegations of Russian meddling and after a previously little-known, far-right candidate won a surprise first-round victory.

“In order to spare Romania and the Romanian citizens from crisis … I resign from the office of president of Romania,” Iohannis said, adding that he would officially stand down on Wednesday.

MPs on Monday launched a procedure to suspend Iohannis, following two previous attempts by the opposition to start the process.

“In a few days, the Romanian Parliament will vote on my suspension and Romania will go into crisis … This whole endeavour will have effects internally and unfortunately also externally,” Iohannis said.

Far-right AUR party leader George Simion welcomed Iohannis’s resignation.