Romanian President Nominates Marcel Ciolacu to Form Pro-European Coalition Government

Romania’s president today nominated incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu to lead a new pro-European coalition government following a top court’s annulment of a presidential election. After deliberations with the country’s political parties, President Klaus Iohannis nominated Prime Minister Ciolacu of the leftist Social Democratic Party (PSD) to form a government, in hopes of ending a protracted political crisis in the European Union country. 

Mr Ciolacu, whose party topped the polls in a 1st of December parliamentary election, has served as Prime Minister since June last year. It is widely seen as a tactical push to shut out far-right nationalists who made significant gains in parliament, revealing widespread anti-establishment sentiment.

The President’s nomination will need to be



approved by the parliament. The parliamentary elections came on the heels of a presidential vote in which the far-right outsider Calin Georgescu won the first round. Ciolacu came third. Georgescu’s surprise success plunged Romania into turmoil as allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference emerged. Soon after, days before the 8 December presidential runoff, the Constitutional Court made the unprecedented move to annul the presidential race.

The new coalition is expected to comprise the PSD, the centre-right National Liberal Party (PNL), the ethnic Hungarian party UDMR, and national minorities. The three parties have also agreed on a common pro-European candidate to enter the rerun of the presidential election, the date of which is yet to be announced.