Romania's Social Democrats have nominated a Muslim woman to be the country's next prime minister.
Liviu Dragnea, leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), said on December 21 that Sevil Shhaideh would be his party's candidate to head Romania's government.
Shhaideh, who served briefly as Romania's regional development minister in 2015, must be approved by President Klaus Iohanis and parliament, where the PSD has a majority after decisively winning the December 11 parliamentary elections.
Shhaideh, 52, would be the first woman as well as the first Muslim prime minister in predominantly Christian Romania, where less than 1 percent of the population is Muslim.
Dragnea said after announcing Shhaideh's nomination that he could not "for the time being" serve as prime minister due to an "unjust conviction and deeply unconstitutional law."
Dragnea is currently serving a two-year suspended sentence jail sentence for electoral fraud.
