From Journalist to First Woman Candidate to Run for the Presidency of Iraq
Sarwa Abdul Wahid, announced on Sunday, that she would run for the presidency. (Supplied))SOURCE: AL-ARABIYA
BY: HASSAN AL-SAEEDI
The former Kurdistan Alliance deputy, Sarwa Abdul Wahid, announced on Sunday, that she would run for the presidency, which makes her the first woman to run for this position in Iraq, and might become the first woman president after the political approvals.
Abdul Wahid had several political positions regarding the political conditions, especially in the Kurdistan Region. She had announced her clear position in disagreeing with the independence referendum on the Kurdistan region of Iraq, which took place in September last year.
Sarwa Abdul Wahid, who holds a Bachelor degree in Arabic Language from the University of Baghdad in 1993, worked as a journalist in a number of local media institutions and then worked as a teacher until 1998.
Defending women’s rights
Following that, she became a member of the Council of Representatives for Erbil governorate and headed the Parliamentary Change Bloc.
She also won the membership of the parliamentary Arab women network.
During her parliamentary work, she participated in several seminars in the US, about the impact of the negative referendum on Kurdish social, economic and political reality.
Abdul Wahid is the third person to announce her candidacy for the presidency, along with Barham Saleh, who was nominated by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and Sardar Abdullah, a member of the Change Bloc, who introduced himself as an independent candidate.
The candidate for the presidency in Iraq needs to win two-thirds of the votes of the Parliament members.
The meetings of political blocs have not agreed on a specific candidate. That’s why Nechirvan Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government, went to Najaf governorate to meet with Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Sadrist movement.
