Liviu Dragnea, the leader of the Social-Democratic Party (PSD) that won Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Romania, said he would only announce the party’s proposal for Prime Minister at his meeting with President Klaus Iohannis next week.

“I am not going to promote an unnecessary conflict. We will go with a proposal that can be accepted and which, mathematically and politically, can’t be denied,” Dragnea said yesterday at a press conference.

Several PSD members said that their leader Liviu Dragnea would be the best choice for Prime Minister, but a law from 2001 forbids people who have a criminal conviction to hold an office in the government.

Dragnea said that “the provision in the law on convicted (people) can’t be considered an incompatibility.” He added that the law was adopted in 2001 by the Government, without the approval of the Justice Ministry. However, “PSD will not initiate any procedure at the CCR (Constitutional Court) or in the Parliament to change the law.”

In Romania, the President names the Prime Minister, but the Parliament validates the Government so the Prime Minister nomination usually comes from the party or coalition that has the majority in the Parliament. President Klaus Iohannis has said several times that he would not appoint as Prime Minister a person with a criminal conviction.

Social-Democrats get 221 of the 465 seats in Romania’s new Parliament

editor@romania-insider.com