Romanian President says 'no' to proposed Muslim PM candidate, faces potential impeachment

[JDragon]

Crazy, crazy story.

Translated from Sueddeutsche.de. Be sure to read the whole article to enjoy the maximum craziness.

Spoiler: the fact that she's Muslim is not the point, but her husband is an ardent Assad supporter and she appears to be a puppet for her party leaders who cannot become PM due to priors.

27 December 2016, 7:18 pm
Power struggle in Bucharest: Romanian President prevented first Muslim EU head of government


Sevil Shhaideh will not become Prime Minister.

(Photo: Octav Ganea / AP)
Head of State Johannis rejected the candidate of the Social Democrats for the PM office. Now impeachment threatens him.

By Florian Hassel
Romania
President Klaus Johannis has rejected the proposed candidate by the largest party of the country for the office of prime minister. The EU country is therefore in a crisis with uncertain outcome. The Social Democrats (PSD), the successor party of the Communists, had won the parliamentary election on 11 December and proposed Sevil Shhaideh, a politically unsuccessful candidate, as a government minister.

Johannis said he had "carefully balanced all the pros and cons and decided not to accept the proposal, so I ask the PSD and the coalition partner Alde to make a new proposal." The President did not justify his decision. The presumed background is the lack of political autonomy and controversial contacts of the man of Sevil Shhaideh.

PSD boss Dragnea said he would not suggest another candidate. "Who guarantees us that a different proposal will be accepted?" Dragnea also accused the President of acting unconstitutionally and did not rule out an impeachment lawsuit against the President or a court case before of the Constitutional Court. "It is clear that the President violates the Constitution," he said.

In fact, Article 103 of the Romanian Constitution is not clear on the issue of nominating a head of government. After a parliamentary election, the president must consult an election winner who has an absolute majority, either alone or in a coalition. He can then follow the nominee's proposal in his nomination. However, the Constitution does not state that the President must follow any or the first proposal.


Johannis had stated several times that he would submit to Parliament, according to the law, only a candidate without criminal records or other legal or serious problems as a government official to vote. This excluded the entire leadership of the PSD, a successor party to the Romanian Communists: Long-time Prime Minister Victor Ponta is charged with money laundering and tax evasion and is being tried. Parteichef Liviu Dragnea was sentenced to two years in jail by the Supreme Court in May 2016 due to the election fraud.

PSD, therefore, proposed the previously scandal-free Sevil Shhaideh as a government official: the 52-year-old computer technician was the first woman proposed as a Muslim and a minority of Tatars living in Romania - a surprising choice. Shhaideh is largely unknown. Her outstanding quality was clearly her loyalty to PSD party boss Dragnea - in 2011, he was also a best man at her wedding.


Romania's opposition criticized Shhaideh's nomination that she would be "Dragnea's puppet". Dragnea himself nurtured such fears by announcing that he would switch Shhaideh when "she is tired."

Husband with good contacts to Damascus

Her husband also gives cause for concern. Akram Shhaideh, a Syrian businessman who moved to Romania in 2010, had served the Assad regime for 20 years in the Ministry of Agriculture. According to Romanian investment service Rise Project, Shhaideh posted some messages on his Facebook account, showing him as an enthusiastic supporter of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

The next step is uncertain: the PSD can now propose another candidate, while Johannis, on his part, can propose a candidate of his choice to Parliament. With their coalition partner, the postcommunists have the majority in the parliament - no candidate can become a government minister without their consent. If, within 60 days, the President twice proposes to parliament a PM candidate who does not have a majority in parliament, the President shall, in accordance with Article 89 of the Constitution, dissolve parliament and issue new elections.

The PSD, on the other hand, also has a means of pressure: with its majority in Parliament, it could initiate an impeachment procedure against the President. Another possibility: the PSD complains before the Constitutional Court that Johannis proposes a candidate nominated by the PSD as a government official.

Edit:

I assume it is also related to this:

Cătălin Predoiu, a former justice minister from the centre-right National Liberal party, said on Facebook that he could not see how Shhaideh could get the security clearance needed to be prime minister. Giving her the job would “give her access to defence information classified as secret, including from Nato,” he wrote.

Andrei Ţăranu, a political analyst, said: “In the absence of any explanations by the president, I suppose that his rejection is linked to questions of national security and because the United States would not have been very keen.”

The website HotNews cited unnamed sources as saying the security services had “strongly cautioned” against Shhaideh’s nomination because of the closeness to the Assad regime of her husband and his two brothers.

Dragnea was due to make a statement on Tuesday afternoon responding to the rejection. Some in his party called for Iohannis to be suspended.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ination-of-muslim-woman-sevil-shhaideh-for-pm

 

[Hogey]

So the communist party elected a unsuccessful female Muslim politician who's husband has shady ties to be PM. Fishy

 

[Orgasmo]

Fuck you Communist SJW pinkos in Europe.

 

[oldshadow]

To me that's a strange political system but their house their rules.

Sounds like there is a good reason he doesn't want her in this position. Sounds like she has some shady ties and would be controlled by someone.

 

[Falsedawn]

So what degree of leeway should the PM have that Shhaideh would not as Dragnea's "puppet" so to speak?

I guess the part i'd like clarified is what makes Shhaideh uniquely unqualified for the position despite being a member of the party? Parliamentary procedure confuses the hell out of me sometimes.

 

[JDragon]

So what degree of leeway should the PM have that Shhaideh would not as Dragnea's "puppet" so to speak?

I guess the part i'd like clarified is what makes Shhaideh uniquely unqualified for the position despite being a member of the party? Parliamentary procedure confuses the hell out of me sometimes.

I assume it is also related to this:

Cătălin Predoiu, a former justice minister from the centre-right National Liberal party, said on Facebook that he could not see how Shhaideh could get the security clearance needed to be prime minister. Giving her the job would “give her access to defence information classified as secret, including from Nato,” he wrote.

Andrei Ţăranu, a political analyst, said: “In the absence of any explanations by the president, I suppose that his rejection is linked to questions of national security and because the United States would not have been very keen.”

The website HotNews cited unnamed sources as saying the security services had “strongly cautioned” against Shhaideh’s nomination because of the closeness to the Assad regime of her husband and his two brothers.

Dragnea was due to make a statement on Tuesday afternoon responding to the rejection. Some in his party called for Iohannis to be suspended.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ination-of-muslim-woman-sevil-shhaideh-for-pm

 

[Falsedawn]

I assume it is also related to this:



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ination-of-muslim-woman-sevil-shhaideh-for-pm

Ohhhhhhhh, so it's strictly the Assad connections, I can totally see that. Judging by the mentions of the US not being very keen and to NATO information explicitly, i'm putting my dollar on the US calling them and telling them to be easy out there haha.

Being so invested in the US political system, it's always fun to see behind the veil of other countries. Things are just conducted so differently. Thanks for posting, this is pretty interesting.

 

[dontlaugh]

Well, he might have a good reason to...