Klaus Iohannis handed over the powers of the Romanian President to Ilie Bolojanu

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has handed over the powers to Ilie Bolojan, the leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL) party, as acting head of state. The broadcast of the ceremony was published on February 12 on the YouTube channel of the presidential administration.

The event took place today at 12:00 (local time, 13:00 Moscow time) in Bucharest.

Iohannis greeted Bolojan on the steps of the Parliament Palace, after which they spoke inside the building. Afterward, the former Romanian president left in a car bearing the national flag.

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Iohannis has said he will step down on February 10. The leader of the opposition Romanian party Alliance for the Unification of Romanians (AUR), George Simion, in turn, called President Iohannis' decision a victory for the opposition.

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.