Romanian President Klaus Iohannis announced his resignation on Monday following the launch of impeachment proceedings against him and growing public outrage over last year’s canceled presidential election.
The country’s top court pulled presidential elections slated for December after claims of Russian meddling and the first-round victory of a previously little-known, far-right candidate.
Pressure had been growing on pro-European Iohannis, who had said he would remain in office until his successor was elected at a new vote in May.
Lawmakers on Monday launched a procedure to impeach Iohannis, following two previous attempts by the opposition 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 Iohannis’s resignation and hundreds of supporters gathered in Bucharest for a rally that saw clashes with police.
Calin Georgescu, who won the first round of presidential elections before the vote was annulled, said Iohannis’s resignation was a “victory for the people of Romania”.
“Now, it’s time to return to ‘rule of law’ – resume 2nd round of elections!” he wrote on X.
The leader of the far-right AUR party, George Simion, also hailed what he said was the people’s “victory”.
Romania’s far right gained an unprecedented third of the votes in December parliamentary elections due to mounting anger over soaring inflation and fears over Russia’s war in neighbouring Ukraine.
Last month, tens of thousands of Romanians took to the streets in a wave of protests called by the far right criticising the vote cancellation, with some demanding for Iohannis to resign.
Senate president and liberal leader Ilie Bolojan, 55, is expected to replace Iohannis.
