Sevil Shhaideh (; née Geambec ( crh, Cambek); born 4 December 1964) is a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

n economist, civil servant and politician. On 21 December 2016, she was proposed by the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote s ...

to be

Prime minister of Romania The prime minister of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul României), officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania ( ro, Prim-ministrul Guvernului României, link=no), is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was s ...

, but was rejected by the president,

Klaus Iohannis Klaus Werner Iohannis (; ; also spelled Johannis; born 13 June 1959) is a Romanian politician, physicist and former teacher who has been serving as the president of Romania since 2014. He became leader of the National Liberal Party (Romania), Na ...

Studies and career

Shhaideh was born on 4 December 1964, in

Constanța Constanța (, ; ; rup, Custantsa; bg, Кюстенджа, Kyustendzha, or bg, Констанца, Konstantsa, label=none; el, Κωνστάντζα, Kōnstántza, or el, Κωνστάντια, Kōnstántia, label=none; tr, Köstence), histo ...

. Her mother Muezel Cambek (née Karpat) is of Crimean Tatar origin and her father Saedin Cambek is of Turkish origin. In 1987 she graduated from the Academy of Economic Sciences of Bucharest, Faculty of Economic Planning and Cybernetics. She then worked in the public administration of

Constanța County Constanța () is a county (județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in the Dobruja region. Its capital city is also named Constanța. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 684,082 and the population density was 96/km2. The degr ...

, becoming head of the Directorate General for Projects. In the same period, she was the coordinator of the National Union of Romanian county councils. Since 2012 she worked as secretary of state in the Ministry of Regional Development. Between May and November 2015 Shhaideh was minister of regional development and public administration in the

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

government headed by

Victor Ponta Victor Viorel Ponta (; born 20 September 1972) is a Romanian jurist and politician, who served as Prime Minister of Romania between his appointment by President Traian Băsescu in May 2012 and his resignation in November 2015. A former member ...

, succeeding

Liviu Dragnea Liviu Nicolae Dragnea (; born 28 October 1962) is a Romanian engineer and former politician. Starting his career in the Democratic Party (PD), he joined the Social Democratic Party (PSD), eventually becoming its leader. After holding several posi ...

. On 21 December 2016 she was indicated by the PSD and ALDE parties as candidate for

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

to the

President of Romania The president of Romania ( ro, Președintele României) is the head of state of Romania. Following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves for five years. An indiv ...

. Dragnea, the PSD leader, indicated that he would keep the overall political responsibility over a Shhaideh government. If she had been approved, she would have been the first woman and first Muslim to hold that position. On 27 December, Iohannis, who comes from the National Liberal Party defeated by the governing coalition, rejected the nomination, prompting Dragnea and

Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu (; born 14 January 1952) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 29 December 2004 to 22 December 2008. He was also president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the vice-pre ...

, the leader of junior coalition partner Alliance of Liberals and Democrats to accuse Iohannis of playing partisan politics and to consider his removal from the presidency.

Personal life

Shhaideh's family are of the

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

faith and belonged to the long established Turkish and

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

ethnic minorities of Romania. Her mother is the niece of the Turkish historian

Kemal Karpat Kemal Haşim Karpat (15 February 1924, Babadag Tulcea, Romania – 20 February 2019, Manchester, New Hampshire, United States) was a Romanian- Turkish naturalised American historian and professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Earl ...

. She is married to the Syrian businessman Akram Shhaideh ( ar, أكرم شهيدة); the Romanian politician

was a witness at their wedding ceremony in 2011. According to a declaration of financial interests from July 2015, the couple own three properties in Syria, one in

Latakia , coordinates = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 11 , elevation_ft = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code = Country code: 963 City code: 41 , geocode ...

and two in Damascus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shhaideh, Sevil Romanian economists 1964 births Social Democratic Party (Romania) politicians Living people Romanian people of Turkish descent Romanian people of Crimean Tatar descent Women members of the Romanian Cabinet Romanian Ministers of Regional Development Romanian Sunni Muslims Deputy Prime Ministers of Romania People from Constanța Romanian Muslims 21st-century Romanian politicians 21st-century Romanian women politicians