“The session on Thursday will have one item that will be dedicated to the election of a President of the republic,” Iraqi state media quoted parliamentary speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi as saying.
Iraq held snap elections on October 10, 2021. However, over a year after elections were held, the Iraqi parliament has not been able to elect a new president, and therefore unable to form a new government.
The inability to elect a president comes as the top two Kurdish parties have for over a year failed to agree on a common candidate for the position.
According to a long-standing customary agreement, the three main leadership positions in the Iraqi government are divided among Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis. Kurds get the presidency, Shiites get the premiership, and Sunnis get the parliamentary speaker. Among Kurds, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has held on to the presidency position since 2005.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (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 proposed by each other for years, until 2018, when the KDP for the first time put forward Fuad Hussein against Barham Salih for the position. However, Hussein, who is now Iraqi foreign minister, did not make the cut and Salih was chosen as the country’s president.
The PUK has on several occasions said that they endorse Salih to run for another term as president, the KDP has also put forth the Kurdistan Region’s Minister of Interior Rebar Ahmed. Despite this, the Iraqi parliament has not been able to elect a president in a year as a result of its inability to meet legal quorum, and recurring protests in the Iraqi capital.
