--- description: Iraqi President Barham Saleh offered to resign as weeks of deadly anti-government protests show no sign of subsiding. title: Iraqi President Barham Saleh Submits Resignation to Parliament Amid Deadly Protests: Report image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0840489c3e90190f/698a08138fd2ee71f3360ae4/Barham-Saleh-resignation.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Iraq](/tag/iraq/) ## Iraq Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Iraqi President Barham Saleh Submits Resignation to Parliament Amid Deadly Protests, According to Reports by [Khalid Al-Ansary / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Khalid Al-Ansary / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 26, 2019 5:06 PM CUT  Iraqi President Barham Salih talks at a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Presidential Palace on February 25, 2019 in Paris, France. Iraqi President Barham Salih talks at a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Presidential Palace on February 25, 2019 in Paris, France.Antoine Gyori––Corbis/Getty Images by [Khalid Al-Ansary / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Khalid Al-Ansary / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 26, 2019 5:06 PM CUT Iraqi President Barham Saleh offered to resign as weeks of deadly anti-government protests show no sign of abating. The president is being torn in opposite directions by politicians who want him to name a prime minister from their ranks and demonstrators who reject any establishment candidate. Adel Abdul-Mahdi stepped down as prime minister last month as protests raged over government corruption, poor services and Iran’s sweeping political influence. Mahdi remains in office until a successor is found. Protesters rejected one nominee, and Saleh rejected the candidacy of a second, Assad Al-Edani of the Al-Binaa political bloc. In a letter to the Iraqi parliament speaker on Thursday, he said the new prime minister must be someone who can unify rather than divide the nation. “Out of an eagerness to spare blood and preserve civil peace, I apologize for not naming Edani prime minister,” the letter continued. “I am ready to submit my resignation to parliament.” About 500 people have died and more than 20,000 have been wounded in clashes between security forces and protesters since Oct. 1, according to the independent Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5755588/iraq-president-resignation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5755588/iraq-president-resignation/"},"headline":"Iraqi President Barham Saleh Submits Resignation to Parliament Amid Deadly Protests, According to Reports","datePublished":"2019-12-26T17:06:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T07:58:31.030Z","description":"This comes as Iraq's prime minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi stepped down last month","url":"https://time.com/5755588/iraq-president-resignation/","keywords":["Iraq","Bloomberg","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0840489c3e90190f/698a08138fd2ee71f3360ae4/Barham-Saleh-resignation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Khalid Al-Ansary / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0840489c3e90190f/698a08138fd2ee71f3360ae4/Barham-Saleh-resignation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Iraqi President Barham Saleh Submits Resignation to Parliament: Report","caption":"Iraqi President Barham Salih talks at a press conference","creditText":"Antoine Gyori––Corbis/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/iraq/","name":"Iraq"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5755588/iraq-president-resignation/","name":"Iraqi President Barham Saleh Submits Resignation to Parliament Amid Deadly Protests, According to Reports"}}]}] ```