On Monday, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis announced he’d step down, citing growing dissatisfaction both from the public and his political allies. He stated that his resignation would take effect on Wednesday.
In December, Romania’s Constitutional Court annulled the first round of the presidential election, allowing Iohannis to remain in office until a successor is chosen. However, some experts have raised concerns, arguing Romania’s constitution doesn’t specify how to extend a presidential term beyond five years.
Since the December 1 parliamentary elections, extremist parties in parliament have been pushing for Iohannis’ resignation. One of these parties, POT, which backed pro-Russian candidate Călin Georgescu, tried twice to gather enough support for a motion to suspend him, but failed. Finally, with backing from 26 MPs of the pro-European USR party, the third attempt passed.
On Monday, parliament’s governing body set a vote for the president’s suspension request for Tuesday. If the presidency becomes vacant, the Senate president steps in temporarily, and since December, that position has been held by Ilie Bolojan, the head of the PNL.
