Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu submitted his resignation today after the candidate supported by the pro-Western coalition he led failed in the first round of the presidential runoff.
"The center-left Socialists, to whom he belongs, will leave the coalition, while the party's ministers will stay on temporarily until a new majority emerges after the second round of the presidential election," he said.
Ciolacu offered his resignation last December after failing to qualify for the second round of the difficult and annulled elections, which were won by ultranationalist candidate Calin Georgescu.
On Sunday, the grand coalition that included Ciolacu's center-left PSD, the liberal PNL party and the Hungarian minority UDMR/RMDSZ party failed to inspire Romanians to support Antonescu in the first round of the presidential run-off vote following the unprecedented scandal of the annulled elections in December, which caused considerable turmoil within the bloc.
The current group of PSD ministers has decided to leave the government along with Ciolacu, following accusations that they did not do enough to help Antonescu secure the top position.