Following the October Revolution, the governor of Bessarabia retired, yielding power to Constantin Mimi, the president of the Zemstvo of the guberniya, who was named Guberniya Commissar in March. The "Peasants' Congress" in October replaced Mimi with Inculeț, an action planned and approved by Kerensky, Russia's interim prime minister. As soon as the Peasants Congress, which had no legal power, voted, Kerenski formally replaced Mimi with Inculeț. When Inculeț arrived in Chișinău to take power, he faced the quiet opposition of the nobility, therefore he agreed to take the position of deputy commissar to Vladimir Criste. When the republic was proclaimed, Criste stepped down and passed his legal powers to Inculeț.