By Radu-Sorin Marinas and Luiza Ilie

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romania’s president rejected the Social Democrat Party’s nominee for prime minister on Tuesday, infuriating the leftist PSD which won a general election two weeks ago.

The party’s pick to lead the new government was Sevil Shhaideh, a close associate of PSD power broker Liviu Dragnea who was ruled out of the job due to a criminal conviction over a 2012 referendum rigging case.

Dragnea’s PSD won the Dec. 11 election by a wide margin and, with coalition partner and long-time ally ALDE, has 250 members in the 465-seat, two-house parliament, meaning it would easily get parliamentary approval for its government.

Shhaideh, a 52-year-old woman from Romania’s 65,000-strong Muslim community, is close to Dragnea who was a witness at her 2011 wedding to a Syrian-born former agriculture ministry consultant.

“I have carefully weighed the pro and con arguments and I have decided not to appoint Mrs Sevil Shhaideh,” President Klaus Iohannis told reporters, without elaborating on his reasoning.

“As a result, I am asking the PSD and ALDE to make a new proposal.”

Dragnea said he had watched the president’s decision with “stupefaction”.

more:    http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/romania-s-president-infuriates-main-party-by-rejecting-proposed-pm/42793764

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)