France, May 6 -- Romania's Presidency announced on Tuesday that it appointed minister of the interior Catalin Predoiu as interim premier, a day after the prime minister's resignation deepened political tumult. The shift takes place between two rounds of Presidential elections.

Romania's pro-EU Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu stepped down on Monday after a far-right candidate topped the first round of a tense presidential vote rerun.

With over 40 percent of the votes, far-right EU critic George Simion topped Sunday's election first round, while the ruling coalition's candidate narrowly lost out to Bucharest's mayor for the second spot.

Ciolacu's resignation comes just two weeks ahead of the presidential vote runoff on May 18 in the EU and...