Tensions between Tudose, who was named last June, and the party's powerful president Liviu Dragnea erupted last week when the prime minister asked his interior minister, a close Dragnea ally, to resign, accusing her publicly of lying to him. The prime minister, Mihai Tudose, announced on Monday evening that he would step down after party leaders failed to resolve a dispute between him and the party’s powerful leader, Liviu Dragnea, who is unable to serve as prime minister himself because of a 2016 conviction for electoral fraud. Romania's prime minister has resigned, Monday, Jan. 15, 2018, after his party withdrew its support amid a power struggle with party chairman after Romania's ruling left-wing Social Democratic Party withdrew its support for Mihai Tudose after a meeting lasting more than five hours. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is visiting Romania at the end a six-country European tour, arrived Tuesday, but lunch and talks with the Romanian prime minister were canceled due to the political crisis. Tudose took over in June 2017, after his predecessor Sorin Grindeanu was ousted by the PSD and its junior coalition partner ALDE, who argued that Grindeanu had fallen behind schedule implementing a reform program.
Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Tudose resigns after losing the support of the Social Democratic Party.