Romanian Defence Minister Named Interim Premier after PM Resigns

Romania's Defence Minister Nicolae Ciuca was named interim prime minister on Monday evening after Ludovic Orban resigned over his ruling centre-right National Liberal Party, PNL's poor showing in Sunday's parliamentary election.

The PNL was widely considered the front-runner at the polls, but was defeated by the opposition Social Democratic Party, PSD.

The PSD won 30 per cent of the votes, five per cent ahead of the PNL, in a poll with a historic low turnout in which less than a third of the electorate cast their ballots amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Ciuca's nomination was signed by President Klaus Iohannis, whose administration said in a short statement: "In line with… the constitution, Romania's president has designated Mr. Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca as interim prime minister, so he will fulfil the obligations of the prime minister's role until the formation of a new government."

Ciuca, 53, is a retired Romanian army general who became defence minister in November last year.

President Iohannis also said that he expects the PNL, the centrist USR PLUS alliance and the Democratic Union of the Hungarians in Romania, UDMR, to build a coalition government capable of securing the necessary support in parliament.

Iohannis did not suggest that the victorious PSD could form the next government.

Iohannis, his PNL allies and USR PLUS have all vowed to undo the legacy of the PSD's last government, which ruled Romania from January 2017 until its demise in a no-confidence vote in October last year. While in office, the PSD's controversial justice system reforms were widely condemned as an attack on the rule of law.

With his resignation, Orban excluded himself from heading a new government despite being the obvious option to...