Romania’s center-right prime minister resigns after election

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania’s center-right prime minister resigned Monday after a general election in which voters delivered nominal victory to the left-leaning, populist opposition party.

With 95% of votes counted in Sunday’s election, Ludovic Orban’s National Liberals (PNL) have been defeated by the populist Social Democrat Party. But the Social Democrats appear unlikely to emerge on top in what promises to be prolonged post-election wrangling to form a new coalition government.

Orban — who is also the party leader — said he was resigning from government because the PNL had to focus on talks to establish a new parliamentary majority.

“My objective is to form a majority that will not include the PSD,” he said, using the Romanian acronym for the Social Democrat Party.

“I want my resignation to show clearly that I am not holding onto any position,” Orban said. “I place Romania’s interests above PNL’s interests and above my personal interests.”

Orban's Cabinet will remain in office in a caretaker capacity, but under Romania's law must be replaced by a new administration within 45 days.

Until then, Defense Minister Nicolae Ciuca will act as the prime minister, having been designated for the post by President Klaus Iohannis.

With most ballots counted, the PSD had around 30% of the vote, with Orban's reformist National Liberal Party trailing them by about 5%. The progressive USR-Plus alliance, which has pledged not to be part of any Social Democrat-led government, won about 15% of the vote.

Only two other parties crossed the 5% threshold to enter Parliament: the far-right AUR alliance, whose vocal opposition to coronavirus restrictions resonated with close to 9% of voters, and the UDMR party that represents the country's Hungarian...