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Iraq
PUK logo (left), and Iraqi President Barham Salih (right), January 2019. Photo: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP. Graphic: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) on Monday chose current Iraqi President Barham Salih as their candidate to run a second term, a senior advisor to the party’s politburo told Rudaw, adding that their choice remains solid regardless of what other parties think of the decision.
“Barham Salih is our candidate for the Presidency position, because the PUK considers the position as its own share,” Rezan Sheikh Dler, former PUK MP in Baghdad and a senior advisor to the party’s politburo told Rudaw’s Hemin Baban on Monday, adding that the decision was made in a politburo meeting on Monday.
“PUK has not sought advice from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP),” she added. “Barham Salih is our candidate, if our KDP friends accept, and even if they do not accept it, he will still be our only candidate.”
According to a long-standing agreement, the three main leadership positions in the Iraqi government are divided among Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis. Whereas Kurds get the presidency, Shiites get the premiership, and Sunnis get the parliamentary speaker. Among Kurds, the PUK has held on to the Presidency position since 2005.
Both the KDP and PUK for years abided by an agreement, more commonly identified as the strategic agreement, where the PUK would get the Iraqi president of their choice, and the KDP in return would get the Presidency of the Kurdistan Region. Neither side contested the candidates of each other for years, until 2018.
Following the controversial 2018 elections, the KDP for the first time put forth a candidate to run for the Iraqi Presidency and challenge PUK’s Salih for the position. However KDP’s Fuad Hussein, who is now Iraqi foreign minister, did not make the cut and Salih was chosen as President.
Salih was elected the eighth President of Iraq by the Iraqi parliament on October 2, 2018.
More confusion has arisen following the first parliamentary session on Sunday when, despite both parties preaching for a united Kurdish front in Baghdad for months, the PUK did not attend the session to vote for KDP’s deputy parliament speaker candidate, Shakhawan Abdullah.
“We were in fact hoping to be together with PUK and other Kurdish parties, but we reached certain political decisions, but even now is not late,” Hoshyar Zebari, senior KDP politburo member and head of the KDP’s negotiation team in Baghdad told Rudaw’s Halkawt Aziz on Monday.
A KDP MP on Monday also told Rudaw that the KDP could have candidates of its own.
“That topic concerns the KDP’s delegation and Masoud Barzani, therefore choosing a candidate is a leadership decision, we might have two or even three people,” Sherwan Dubardani told Rudaw’s Nahro Mohammed.
“So far no name has been agreed on, but meetings will continue to pick someone that represents Kurds in the position,” he said, adding “KDP is open to discuss this with all Kurdish parties to choose someone that is approved by all Kurdish parties and by Sunnis and Shiites.”
According to Article 54 of the 2005 Iraqi constitution, when the election results are confirmed, it sets in motion a process for the winning parties to form a government. Within 15 days of the ratification of the results, the president calls on the parliament to meet, chaired by its eldest member, and elect a speaker and two deputies by an absolute majority during its first session, which is set out by Article 55. The parliament also elects a president from among candidates by a two-thirds majority.
The president then tasks the largest bloc in the parliament with forming the government, naming a prime minister within 15 days of the election of the president. The prime minister-elect then has 30 days to name a cabinet.
The Iraqi parliament held its first session on Sunday, almost three months after October’s early election. During the meeting, the head of Taqadum Coalition, Mohammed al-Halbousi was re-elected for a second term as speaker of Iraq’s parliament and Sadrist MP Hakim al-Zamli was also elected as his first deputy speaker of the body.
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