Romania PM quits after far right wins first-round of president vote

Romanian PM Marcel Ciolacu resigned Monday, a day after a far-right opposition member won the first round of the presidential election re-run and his own candidate crashed out of the race.

Ciolacu said his centre-left Social Democrats would withdraw from the pro-Western coalition — effectively ending it — while cabinet ministers will stay on in an interim capacity until a new majority emerges after the presidential run-off. Hard-right eurosceptic George Simion decisively swept the ballot on Sunday, with some 41% of votes, and will face Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan, an independent centrist, in a May 18 run-off. Although Ciolacu’s leftist Social Democrats (PSD) won the most seats in a Dec 1 parliamentary election, Simion’s AUR and two other farright groupings, one with overt pro-Russian sympathies, won more than a third of the seats to become a clear political force.

The Social Democrats had formed a coalition govt to help keep the EU and Nato state on a pro-Western course

This is a Reuters' story