Romania's opposition saw President Iohannis' resignation as its victory

The leader of the opposition Romanian party Alliance for the Unification of Romanians (AUR), George Simion, on February 10 called the decision of the country's President Klaus Iohannis to resign a victory for the opposition.

"This is a victory! Now it's time for the second round," Simion wrote on his Facebook page (owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia).

Earlier in the day, Johannis announced that he was resigning on February 12. His mandate expired on December 21, 2024. He was to serve until the election of a new president of the country in the elections on May 4, 2025.

According to Digi24, the opposition parties Alliance for the Unification of Romanians, Save Romania (S.O.S Ro) and Party of Young People (POT) collected signatures and sent a proposal to parliament for Iohannis' resignation. It was to be considered on February 11.

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The first round of the Romanian presidential election was held on November 24, 2024. According to official data, independent candidate Calin Georgescu was leading with 22.94% of the vote. But on November 28, Romania's Constitutional Court (CC) demanded that the republic's Central Election Commission (CEC) recalculate the results of the first round. On December 6, the CC annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election. The decision was taken after local intelligence services declassified documents that Georgescu illegally financed his election campaign and that Russia allegedly influenced his campaign through social networks.

On January 21, it became known that Georgescu was again leading in the polls among the country's citizens.

Repeated elections will be held in Romania on May 4. The second round is scheduled for May 18.