The Social Democratic Party - PSD’s proposal for Prime Minister may raise some concern among Romania's international partners. The potential PM's husband is apparently a supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a leader whose authority has been challenged by the U.S. and other Western countries, according to Romanian investigative journalism team RISE Project.

Assad, who's country has been torn apart by civil war and terrorist group ISIS in the last five years, has been accused of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity by Western countries but has Russia's support.

PSD leader Liviu Dragnea named Sevil Shhaideh as the party's proposal for Prime Minister on Wednesday. She may thus become Romania’s first woman Prime Minister, and the first Muslim to take this office.

Sevil Shhaideh's nomination was a surprise, as she is not very well known in Romania and has little political experience. She has worked in the local administration and her name first came into public attention when she was named regional development minister, replacing Dragnea himself, in May 2015.

Sevil Shhaideh, who comes from a family with Tatar-Turkish origins, is married to Syrian Akram Shhaideh. PSD leader Liviu Dragnea was a witness at their wedding, which took place in 2011.

Agronomist by profession, Akram Shhaideh, 54, comes from Lattakia, Syria, where he obtained his university degree in 1984. He worked within the Agriculture Ministry in Damascus for over 20 years. In 2010, he moved to Romania and started working at the Constanta Autonomous Administration of County Roads and Bridges, as a consultant. Last year, Akram Shhaideh got the Romanian citizenship.

According to RISE Project, Akram Shhaideh has repeatedly showed his support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, especially in social media, where he has shared several pro-Assad photos and articles, and commented to several articles from the Syrian media, defending the Syrian President. Bashar al-Assad was accused of war crimes in the civil conflict that erupted in Damascus in March 2011. However, he has rejected the allegations.

Moreover, Sevil Shhaideh’s husband has been using a symbol of forces loyal to Assad as profile picture in an online community. On his social accounts, Akram Shhaideh praised and shared the posts of the page called Only God, Syria and Bashar. In one of the posts, he shared an article which claims that the leader of Hezbollah, considered a terrorist group by the EU and the US, leads a “holy war,” reports RISE Project.

UN estimations showed that some 400,000 people died in the five-year civil war in Syria.

Although the most important, Sevil Shhaideh is not the only nomination for Prime Minister in Romania. The Popular Movement Party (PMP), led by former Romanian President Traian Basescu, also made a nomination at the consultations with President Klaus Iohannis. The party nominated its executive president, Eugen Tomac.

Basescu also warned Iohannis to think twice before naming Shhaideh as Prime Minister, despite her good reputation as a public clerk. He pointed out to the fact that her husband worked for the Syrian Agriculture Ministry for 20 years adding that this was "the most that I can publicly say" about this.

President Klaus Iohannis announced on Thursday that he would announce the name of the new Prime Minister after Christmas. This delay angered PSD leader Liviu Dragnea, who said that Iohannis was ready to name Shhaideh as PM this week but changed his mind because of Basescu's statement.

Dragnea also asked the secret services, SRI and SIE, to say if there was any problem related to Shhaideh.

Basescu replied to Dragnea that he should make another proposal to spare Iohannis from making an "unsuitable nomination" for Prime Minister for the sake of political stability.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com