Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will resign on February 12. Romaniaʼs opposition parties registered a document of impeachment in parliament today.
Reuters writes about this.
Iohannisʼ presidential mandate ended on December 21, 2024, amid the cancellation of the elections. Since then, he has continued to perform his duties until a new head of state is elected.
Romaniaʼs presidential election is scheduled for May 4. Iohannis had previously said he would not resign before then. But he now says he is resigning to prevent a "crisis" in Romania that his impeachment could cause.
"Impossession is a useless step because in a few months I will leave office. This is an unfounded approach because I have never violated the constitution. This is a harmful approach. After some time, the Romanian Parliament will vote for my removal, and Romania will enter a crisis," Iohannis said.
Prior to this decision, opposition parties had requested his removal from office three times. Iohannisʼ resignation was one of the demands of the far-right candidate Călin Georgescu and the far-right Alliance for the Unification of Romanians.
Presidential elections in Romania
The first round of the presidential election in Romania was held on November 24, 2024. Far-right politician Calin Georgescu and liberal pro-European candidate Elena Lasconi advanced to the second round. Lasconi beat the countryʼs incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu by just 2,700 votes.
Georgescuʼs leadership was unexpected, and he was accused of influencing the election through TikTok. Because of this, the European Commission even asked the platform to provide information on how the social network has reduced the risk of inauthentic or automated use of its service, as well as to list the risks arising from its recommended content system.
Romanian intelligence has found that the TikTok account bogpr, used by Romanian citizen Bogdan Pescir, participated in financing Georgescuʼs campaign. He made payments totaling $381 000 between October 24 and November 24 to users of TikTok accounts that participated in Georgescuʼs promotion.
Romaniaʼs Constitutional Court annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election on December 6. A new vote will be held in the spring of 2025.
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