Romania Prime Minister resigns after George Simion's sweeping victory

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) resigned Monday, following the elimination of his party's candidate in the first round of the presidential election.

The Social Democrats have been relegated by George Simion, of the party Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), which is the party's candidate in the first round of the presidential election with 41% of the vote and the centrist, mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, with 20.9% of the vote.

"I proposed to my colleagues to leave the government coalition, which implicitly leads to my resignation as prime minister," Ciolacu told reporters after a meeting of his party in Bucharest.

"We saw how Romanians voted yesterday, which means that the government coalition has no legitimacy, at least not in its current form," explained Crin Antonescu, the candidate the coalition supported.

"The future president would have changed me anyway," Ciolacu added.

Also, the party's ministers could remain in place, in the interim, until a new government is formed after the second round, scheduled for May 18, he said.

The Social Democrats did not call for a vote against the right, but Ciolacu ruled out allying with Simion to form a new administration.

"As long as I am president of the PSD, there will be no PSD-AUR government," the leader declared.

Minister of the Interior appointed an interim prime minister

Interior Minister Catalin Predoiu was appointed acting prime minister of Romania on Tuesday, the presidency announced.

Predoiu, 56, is the current interior minister and acting president of the liberal PNL party.

Former Minister of Justice, he was also interim head of government in 2012.