Romania's ruling coalition collapsed Monday when the junior partner announced it was pulling out in the latest setback to the governing Social Democrats two months before a presidential election. Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said she would try to form a new majority in parliament to rule the poor EU member state after the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) decided to quit.

"We have a responsibility to those who voted for us in 2016, to maintain stability and to keep our promises," she told reporters. But the future of her party - already weakened in May when its then leader was jailed for corruption and it suffered worse-than-expected EU election results - looks shaky with the opposition eager for fresh elections before the Social Democratic PSD's term ends in late 2020. "The entire mayhem of the current government shows the necessity of having snap elections," Dacian Ciolos, leader of opposition party PLUS, said in a Facebook post.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019