December 22 (SeeNews) - Romania's president Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday that he will name the new prime minister after Christmas, after further talks with political parties in parliament.
Iohannis said that he has received two proposals for prime-minister - one from left-wing Social Democrat Party (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.
"There will be further talks, and the appointment will be decided after Christmas," Iohannis said in a statement aired by local TV station Digi 24.
The president must now choose a candidate among the two nominees. In theory, Iohannis can name a third candidate.
In the next step of forming the new government, 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.
If appointed, PSD member Sevil Shhaideh will be Romania's first female prime minister and will replace incumbent technocrat head of government Dacian Ciolos.
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 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 is president of the National Association of Public Administration (ANIAP) since 2000, according to data from her CV posted online.
Tomac, 35, is a politician, historian and ex-journalist, member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2012.
On Monday, PSD and ALDE signed a government coalition agreement, which gave the two parties majority in parliament and the right to propose the new prime minister.
The agreement to establish the Governing Coalition for Development and Democracy spans four years and defines the proportional distribution of portfolios in the new government.
PSD and ALDE will control among themselves 250 of 465 seats in the new parliament.
PSD won 154 seats in the Chamber of Deputies (out of 329) and 67 in the Senate (out of 136), according to data from Romania's electoral bureau, BEC. ALDE won 20 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 9 in the upper house, which makes it the fifth biggest party in the new parliament.