Sarwa Abdulwahid

Not to be confused with Shaswar Abdulwahid.

Sarwa Abdul Wahid (Arabic: سروة عبد الواحد) is an Iraqi politician and former journalist from Kurdistan. In 2018, she became the first woman to announce her candidacy for the presidency of Iraq. She is the sister of Shaswar Abdulwahid, leader of the New Generation Movement and serves as leader of the party in Iraq's parliament.

Sarwa Abdulwahid
سروة عبد الواحد
MP
Member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives
In office 2014–2018
In office 2021–current
Constituency	Erbil Governorate
Personal details
Political party	Movement for Change, New Generation Movement
Alma mater	University of Baghdad, 1993
Occupation	Journalist and teacher

Biography

Sarwa Abdulwahid is from Kurdistan. Abdulwahid graduated from the University of Baghdad in 1993 with a degree in Arabic languages. She went on to become a journalist and then worked as a teacher. In 1996, she presented a nightly political program on the Alhurra network. While a journalist, she reported that she was regularly subject to threats of false reporting by the Kurdistan Regional Government.^[1]

In 1998, she started work in the Iraqi Council of Ministers working mainly on women's rights issues.^[2]

Iraqi Council of Representatives

In 2014, she became a member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives for the Erbil Governorate, serving until 2018 as a member of the Movement for Change party.^[2]

During the 2017 Kurdistan Region independence referendum, Abdulwahid was publicly opposed to the region's move towards independence.^[2] Her position stood in contrast to over 90% of those voting in support.^[3]

Abdulwahid was later expelled from the Movement for Change party after expressing opinions contrary to party leadership.^[4]

Presidency candidate

In September 2018, she announced her candidacy for the presidency of Iraq as an independent, becoming the first woman to run for president in the country's history.^[2][5] In October of that year, she announced that she had been urged to withdraw her candidacy, and was subject to threats over the internet.^[6]

New Generation Movement

In 2017, Abdulwahid's brother, media businessman Shaswar Abdulwahid founded the New Generation Movement party.^[7] Sarwa later joined the new political party.^[8][9] After Shaswar Abdulwahid named his sister Sarwa as head of party relations, the move was heavily criticized by political observers as nepotism.^[7][10]

In the 2021 Iraqi parliamentary elections, Sarwa Abdulwahid was elected as a MP for the New Generation Movement party. In the election, she received 28,987 votes, the largest number of votes of any female candidate running.^[11] At the time of her election she said, "The times are ripe for change...independents and reformist parties can uphold rights and freedoms, including for women and minorities. They can also participate in lawmaking efforts to curtail arms and punish militia members guilty of crimes".^[12]

In 2024, Sarwa Abdulwahid filed a lawsuit in Iraq's Federal Supreme Court calling for the dissolution of the Kurdistan Regional Government if elections were not conducted within three months. The lawsuit was later dismissed.^[13]