BUCHAREST, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Romania's ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) decided Tuesday to put forward the name of European lawmaker Viorica Dancila as the party's nominee for prime minister, one day after prime minister Mihai Tudose was forced to step down.

The nomination was voted on by the ruling party's national executive committee.

The proposal is to be endorsed by the junior ruling Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) and then submitted to President Klaus Iohannis.

Dancila, 54, became a member of the PSD in 1996. In 2014, she was elected as deputy in the European Parliament for a second term on the PSD lists.

Before entering politics, she was an engineer with the then National Oil Company Petrom SA and prior to that a teacher at a secondary school.

Tudose was forced to resign after the leadership of the ruling Social Democratic Party decided to withdraw its political support for him late Monday.

The conflict between Tudose and party chairman Liviu Dragnea has become well known of late, and Tudose's request for the resignation of the country's interior minister resulted in a showdown between the two.

Interior Minister Carmen Dan, considered a close ally of Dragnea, refused to resign after being accused by the prime minister of lying.

Tudose, who took office in June 2017, is the second head of government of the Social Democrats which won the parliamentary elections at the end of 2016. His predecessor Sorin Grindeanu lost power in a no- confidence vote brought by his own ruling party due to a conflict with the party leader.