December 27 (SeeNews) - Romania's president Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday that he won't appoint Sevil Shhaideh as prime minister and asked the government coalition formed after the December 11 election to propose a new candidate.
"Last week, when we held consultations with political parties PSD and ALDE, who wanted to come together in consultations, they proposed Sevil Shhaideh for the position of prime minister. I carefully weighed the pros and cons, and I decided not to accept this proposal. Therefore, I call on the coalition PSD - ALDE to make another proposal," Iohannis said in a brief statement posted on the website of the president's office.
Iohannis gave no reasons for his decision.
However, the leader of left-wing Social Democrat Party (PSD) Liviu Dragnea has repeatedly said that the party will make only one proposition for prime minister.
Iohannis has received two proposals for prime-minister - one from PSD, which won the December 11 general election, and their coalition partner centre-right Liberal-Democrat Alliance (ALDE), and another one from centre-right Popular Movement Party (PMP). PMP barely made it to parliament, with 18 seats in Chamber of Deputies and 8 in the Senate.
PSD proposed former regional development minister Sevil Shhaideh for prime minister, while PMP proposed Eugen Tomac, the party's executive chairman.
After the president accepts a nomination from the parties, both the prime minister and the new cabinet must be approved by parliament. The MPs can reject a proposed government up to three times before the president decides to dissolve parliament and call new elections.
On the other hand, under Romania's constitution, an incumbent president who severely violates the Constitution may be suspended in a joint session of the two houses of parliament. If a suspension motion passes, a referendum for the impeachment of the president shall be called within no more than 30 days after the suspension.
Shhaideh, 52, has been a PSD member since July 2015. She graduated from the Academy of Economic Sciences, Faculty of Economic Planning and Cybernetics, in 1987. During the period May-November 2015, she served as minister of regional development in Victor Ponta cabinet. She is currently a state secretary at the same ministry, a post she occupied from 2012 to May 2015 and to which she returned in November 2015. Also, she has been president of the National Association of Public Administration (ANIAP) since 2000, according to data from her CV posted online.
Shhaideh's husband worked for 20 year in the Syrian ministry of agriculture and posted messages of support for the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's regime on a social network, Romanian media reported in the days following her nomination.
Tomac, 35, is a politician, historian and ex-journalist, member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2012.
Last week, PSD and ALDE signed a government coalition agreement, which gave the two parties majority in parliament. Also last week, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) signed a parliamentary collaboration agreement with the coalition.
In mid-December, Iohannis said that the integrity criteria for local politicians remain valid in the process of appointing the new prime minister. The integrity criteria made it impossible for its leader Liviu Dragnea to become Romania's prime-minster because he had been issued a two-year suspended jail sentence for a referendum fraud in 2012.