Romanian premier resigns after candidate fails to advance to presidential runoff

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced his decision to resign (Andreea Alexandru/AP)

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced his resignation on Monday, a day after the governing coalition’s joint candidate failed to advance to the runoff in the European Union country’s critical presidential election rerun.

The coalition’s candidate, Crin Antonescu, finished third in Sunday’s first-round vote, putting him narrowly behind Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, and far behind hard-right nationalist George Simion, who decisively took first place.

“Rather than let the future president replace me, I decided to resign myself,” Mr Ciolacu, who came third in last year’s annulled presidential election, told reporters after a meeting at the headquarters of his Social Democratic Party, or PSD.

Before the meeting, Mr Ciolacu stated that one of the conditions of forming the coalition last December was to field a common candidate to win the presidency.