Sevil Shhaideh, in Bucharest in 2015 | Alex Micsik/EPA Romania’s Social Democrats propose Muslim woman as PM Sevil Shhaideh is close to Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea, who was barred from the job for legal reasons.

Romania's Social Democrats (PSD) and their liberal coalition partners ALDE proposed on Wednesday to make Sevil Shhaideh, a Muslim woman from the ethnic Tatar minority, the country's next prime minister following the PSD's landslide election victory earlier this month.

If her nomination is approved by President Klaus Iohannis and parliament, Shhaideh would be the first woman and the first Muslim to occupy the job in a country where the majority of the population are Orthodox Christians. The PSD's election campaign was partly based on promoting Orthodox values.

Shhaideh, 51, worked closely with PSD party leader Liviu Dragnea when he was minister for regional development and succeeded him in that post in the PSD-led government of Victor Ponta, who resigned amid public protest in November 2015. The pair have known each other for 15 years and Dragnea was a witness at Shhaideh's marriage in 2011.

Despite her cabinet experience, Shhaideh doesn't have a high profile in Bucharest, having spent most of her career in local politics in the coastal city of Constanţa, according to the media outlet Digi24. Her latest declaration of financial interests, from July 2015, shows she owns three buildings in Syria with her Syrian husband.

As leader of the party that won most seats in parliament, Dragnea wanted the post himself but Iohannis had pledged not to appoint anyone with a criminal record. Dragnea got a suspended jail sentence this year for trying to rig a referendum in 2012, making him ineligible under a 2001 law.

Dragnea maintains his innocence but said he didn't want to create a "useless conflict" with the president by insisting on becoming prime minister. Instead, he was elected head of the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday, with 216 votes for and 101 votes against. Dragnea was the only candidate.

Nicușor Dan, leader of the anti-corruption movement Union Save Romania which came third in the elections, said Shhaideh lacks experience for the prime ministership and was only nominated because of her loyalty to Dragnea.

This article has been corrected to clarify that Shhaideh belongs to the Tatar minority in Romania.