Well, we all have seen female politicians making big in Pakistan and other Muslim countries. Growing up in the 90s, we have also witnessed a female prime minister running Pakistan. Another one is leading Bangladesh these days. But those are Muslim countries only. Rarely do we see Muslims making to the parliaments of western countries, chances of those Muslim politicians belonging to the feminine group are even smaller. Chances of them leading that country are close to impossible. Romania is all set to change that trend.
The European country is close to making an impact and this one will be revolutionary if it becomes a reality. Romania, a country as big as the city of Karachi, is on the course of having a female Muslim at the helm of affairs. The name of the lucky woman is Sevil Shhaideh and she is all set to become the first Muslim Prime Minister of Romania or we can also say first female Muslim Prime Minister in Europe.
Romania may get its first female Muslim prime minister. https://t.co/MkiA3Dorka pic.twitter.com/Jsm2uBG7TF
— AJ+ (@ajplus) December 22, 2016
Sevil Shhaideh’s name was proposed by Liviu Dragnea, chairman of Social Democrat Party (PSD), the political party she belongs to. The PSD has won the parliamentary elections in Romania which were held a couple of weeks ago. This gave the PSD chairman right to decide who to put forward as their PM nominee. The party chairman himself was convicted of an election fraud and therefore cannot get that post so he proposed the name of the Muslim woman.
The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, has said that he would appoint the PM in a few days after assessing the proposal made by the PSD party.
Who is She?
Sevil, aged 52, is an economist belonging to the small Muslim community of Romania. She is ethnically Tatar. Prior to this nomination, she has served as a minister for regional development in 2015. She has been termed as hard-working and loyal by the chairman of PSD. He also praised her for her knowledge of public administration. She is currently acting as an official in the same regional development ministry where she was a minister.
This news is a breath of fresh air in times when many European countries are making moves that hurt sentiments of millions of Muslims making laws affecting Muslim women and forcing them to remove hijabs and scarves etc. Seeing a female prime minister nominee, a Muslim, at the helm of affairs in a western country is no small thing. This has thus led to a lot of chatter, mostly positive, across the globe. We can only imagine the reaction from the world if this becomes the reality and she gets appointed.
