Kurdish woman goes from refugee to Scottish parliamentary candidate

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A Kurdish woman is at the top of the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) list for Scottish parliament in the city of Glasgow for approaching 2021 elections.

“Our party members entrusted me for running, and the party generally wanted to promote equality when it comes to refugees running for offices,” Roza Salih, a Kurdish SNP candidate for Scottish parliamentary elections, told Rudaw’s Bestoon Khalid on Tuesday.

Salih said that she aspired to run for office for quite some time, but this year made it onto the candidates list.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who is also the leader of the SNP and member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Southside endorsed Salih’s candidacy in a tweet.


Salih says that she has been interested in politics since she was young and started working with Sturgeon at the age of 19. She has worked for the SNP since 2014.

The Kurdish Scot said that according to polls, her party is expected to get 53 percent of the vote, putting them in a good position to seek independence from the United Kingdom.

“If we (SNP) do the referendum again, we will be successful,” Salih said.