ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has officially submitted its candidate for Iraq’s presidency, as politicians desperately struggle to put together a government in the middle of a Sunni rebellion and militant control of a third of Iraq.
Sources told Rudaw that the PUK has chosen Fuad Massoum, who is from Halabja, as a compromise candidate. But that was not immediately confirmed. Massoum is a long-time associate of Jalal Talabani, the PUK leader and Iraqi president who has been in Germany since a stroke in December 2012.
There were other reports that the PUK has chosen former speaker of the Kurdish parliament, Adnan Mufti.
Mala Bakhtiar, a senior official of the PUK, formally presented the name Thursday to Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani. Sources told Rudaw the nominee was chosen to avoid further factionalism within the troubled party.
Under the Iraqi constitution the president is Kurdish, the prime minister a Shiite and the parliament speaker a Sunni. The presidency is traditionally given to the PUK.
This week MPs in Baghdad finally elected Salim al-Jabouri as parliament speaker, coming a stop closer to forming a government, as Iraq suffers a crisis that threatens to splinter the country.
Even if a president is chosen, the issue of the Shiite prime minister still would remain unresolved: The Sunnis and Kurds have absolutely rejected a third term for Nouri al-Maliki, who has continued to insist he will remain prime minister.
Meanwhile the PUK’s Najmaldin Karim, the powerful Kurdish governor of Kirkuk, has reportedly caused a stir inside his party by submitting his name for the presidency, without the party’s consent.
That move raised the ire of other PUK leaders, including Mala Bakhtiar and Kosrat Rasul, who rejected any candidate that is not approved by the party leadership.
Iraq’s former deputy premier, Barham Salih, had been considered one of the strongest PUK candidates for the post, but his name was reportedly rejected by the Talabani family due to past history between them.
Unlike Karim, Saleh would be a national consensus candidate, due to his close ties with Iraqi leaders and his moderate views.
While the Iraqi presidency is largely a ceremonial post, before his illness Talabani had used his charisma and political weight to give the position greater importance and act as mediator to resolve political disputes.
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