A new Prime Minister, after Christmas

President Iohannis said he would nominate a new Prime Minister after the Christmas holidays.

Mihai Pelin, 23.12.2016, 13:25

The new Parliament in Bucharest has already had its first plenary session. The Social Democratic Party, the undisputed winner of the parliamentary elections of December 11, with 45% of the votes, enjoys a comfortable majority in Parliament, alongside their junior partners, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats from Romania. The ruling coalition also has the support of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, which will not however be part of the new Government. Together, the three factions have 57% of the seats and will have little trouble promoting future legislation.

The opposition on the other hand seems rather fragile. The National Liberal Party is free falling, the Save Romania Union has just entered Parliament for the first time and the Peoples Movement Party barely met the required threshold. Together the three parties grabbed 34% of the votes.

As a first procedural step, the parties assigned the leadership of Parliaments various subcommittees. As expected, the Social Democrats will control most of the committees in the two chambers. Moreover, the co-president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, has been re-elected as Senate Speaker, while Social-Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea was appointed Speaker in the Chamber of Deputies. The two were the only candidates for the two positions.

Whereas the new Parliament is set for business, the Government is still pending the nomination of a Prime Minister. During consultations with President Klaus Iohannis, the Social Democratic Party nominated Sevil Shhaideh, while the Peoples Movement Party nominated Eugen Tomac. The latter is rather a symbolic nomination, given that the Peoples Movement Party barely won 5% of the votes in the parliamentary election.

Meanwhile, the Social-Democrats proposal, although surprising, is quite serious. Aged 52, Sevil Shhaideh is the first woman to be nominated for the position of Prime Minister in Romania and is also a member of the Turkish-Tartar minority. She is a graduate of the Academy of Economic Sciences and has held various positions in public administration. She was appointed State Secretary and Ministry of Development. She furthered her studies to become an expert in public administration, also working as a manager of several institutions.

Everyone expected the president to appoint her on Thursday, given that Liviu Dragnea made it clear he would not make a second nomination. Still, following consultations with the parliamentary parties, President Iohannis said he would appoint a new Prime Minister only after the Christmas holidays, saying that over the next days he would have talks on this issue.

The Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea has expressed disappointment with the presidents decision to postpone appointing a new Prime Minister, saying that Parliament was ready for the hearing and voting of the new Ministers.

In turn, the co-leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats from Romania, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, said that an interim government must be in office in Romania only for a limited period of time, so that important legislation may be passed in due time. On the other hand, the interim president of the National Liberal Party, Raluca Turcan, said it is the presidents constitutional right to make a serious analysis of the nomination before appointing the Prime Minister.