Syrian migrant sets sights on seat in German parliament

Syrian migrant Tareq Alaows, who is running for the Greens party in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, for the September's federal general election poses during an interview with Reuters at the Reichstag building, the seat of the lower house of parliament Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, February 3, 2021. Picture taken February 3, 2021. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

BERLIN (Reuters) - Almost six years ago Tareq Alaows drifted across the Aegean in a rubber boat before walking most of the way from Athens to Vienna. Now the migrant who fled military conscription in Syria is trying to win a seat in Germany's parliament.

He plans to run for the Greens in a former coal-mining region of western Germany in a national election on Sept. 26 - as long as his application for German citizenship is approved by then. The Greens say Alaows would be the first refugee elected to the federal parliament.