Romania's President Klaus Iohannis smiles while casting his ballot for a parliamentary election in Bucharest, Romania, December 11, 2016. Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea/via REUTERS

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday he will appoint a prime minister designate after Dec. 25 as he needed time to assess the proposal made by the Social Democrat Party (PSD), the winners of a Dec. 11 parliamentary election.

The PSD has formed a ruling coalition with their junior ally ALDE, backed in parliament by the ethnic Hungarian party UDMR. It proposed 52-year-old former development minister Sevil Shhaideh for prime minister during consultations with the president on Wednesday.

“A majority coalition has been set up in parliament,” Iohannis told reporters. “As a result, in the following days I will have discussions on these topics, and an appointment will occur after Christmas.”