January 17 (SeeNews) - Romania's president Klaus Iohannis said on Wednesday he approved the nomination of Viorica Dancila as the country's new prime minister.
The first female prime minister in the country's history, Dancila was proposed for the position by the government coalition comprising the Social Democrat Party (PSD) and its junior partner, the Liberal-Democrat Alliance (ALDE) following the resignation of Mihai Tudose.
"Here, the most powerful argument is parliamentary arithmetic. PSD has a majority. Weighing all the arguments and taking into account the concrete situation, I decided to give PSD another chance and to designate the person proposed by the PSD - Mrs. Dancila," Iohannis said in a televised statement on Wednesday.
Dancila, 54, has been a PSD member for 21 years and is currently serving a second term as member of the European Parliament. Since 2015, she is president of the PSD women's organisation.
She now has 10 days to put together her government, after which the cabinet lineup must be approved by the Romanian parliament. The MPs can reject a proposed government up to three times before the president decides to dissolve parliament and call new elections.
PSD and ALDE control 250 of 465 seats in the bi-camaral parliament.
Dancila's nomination came after prime minister Mihai Tudose resigned on Monday evening after the decision-making executive committee of PSD voted to withdraw the support of the party for him.
This is the second time in less than a year that PSD sacks its own government.
The Tudose cabinet was voted into office at end-June, after the government led by Sorin Grindeanu lost a no-confidence vote requested by PSD.
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