June 26 (SeeNews) - Romania's Social Democrat Party (PSD) and their coalition partner, the Liberal-Democrat Alliance (ALDE), on Monday proposed Mihai Tudose, minister of economy in the outgoing cabinet, as prime minister, PSD leader Liviu Dragnea said.
The nomination comes after last week the government led by Sorin Grindeanu lost a no-confidence vote requested by PSD, which withdrew its support for the six-month old coalition cabinet citing poor performance.
"If president Klaus Iohannis accepts the PSD proposal and nominates Mihai Tudose as prime minister, by Thursday evening the new government can be voted in by parliament and can take oath," Dragnea told a news conference aired by local Digi 24.
Tudose, 50, is PSD's deputy president. He graduated from the Faculty of Legal and Administrative Sciences of the Dimitrie Cantemir University of Bucharest in 1995. He has served as economy minister twice - in Grindeanu's cabinet and in Victor Ponta's cabinet between December 2014 and November 2015. Two years ago, Tudose withdrew his doctorate thesis following accusations of plagiarism.
Under Romania's constitution, the president must name a prime minister from the political party which has won majority of seats in parliament in elections. Both the prime minister and his cabinet must be approved by the MPs in a vote of confidence. The MPs can reject a proposed government line-up up to three times before the president decides to dissolve parliament and call new elections.
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