Romania president, Klaus Iohannis, resigns

By Miracle Ogunde

After a procedure to impeach him was launched amid anger over the cancellation of a presidential election last year, Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis on Monday announced his resignation.

Pressure had been growing on Iohannis, a pro-European politician who had said he would remain in office until a new election is held in May.

AFP reports that the country’s top court called off a vote slated for December after claims of Russian meddling before the first round which was won by a little-known, far-right candidate.

Lawmakers on Monday launched a procedure to impeach Iohannis, following two previous opposition attempts to start the process.

“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.

“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,” he added in his address.

He insisted he had “never violated the constitution.”

Romania’s far right welcomed the resignation. A rally of hundreds of supporters in Bucharest saw clashes with police.

Calin Georgescu, who won the first round of the presidential election before the vote was annulled, called Iohannis’s resignation a “victory for the people of Romania.”

“Now, it’s time to return to ‘rule of law’—resume’ the 2nd round of elections!” he wrote on X.

The leader of the far-right AUR party, George Simion, hailed what he said was the people’s “victory.”

Romania’s far-right gained an unprecedented third of the votes in the December parliamentary elections amid anger over soaring inflation and fears over Russia’s war in neighbouring Ukraine.

Last month, tens of thousands of Romanians took part in protests called by the far right criticising the vote cancellation. Some demanded the resignation of Iohannis, who is expected to be temporarily replaced by Senate president and liberal leader Ilie Bolojan.