Top Shiite politician calls on KDP, PUK to elect a president

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Prominent Iraqi Shiite politician Hadi al-Amiri on Wednesday called on the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to elect a candidate for Iraq’s presidency, telling Rudaw that he remains optimistic that the Kurdish political giants will agree on a single nominee.

Amiri, head of the Fatih Alliance, delivered a speech during the 13th al-Ghadir International Festival in Baghdad, addressing Iraq’s continued political deadlock as well the leaked audio recordings attributed to his Coordination Framework ally Nouri al-Maliki. 

Amiri stated that hastening the process of selecting Iraq’s next president and prime minister was “crucial” for the country’s stability, urging the Kurdish parties to settle the issue of the presidency and agree on a candidate.

“God willing they [the Kurdish parties] will reach an agreement,” Amiri told Rudaw’s Halkawt Aziz on Wednesday after concluding his speech, adding “even if they do not reach an agreement on a candidate, let them agree on a mechanism and we will settle in the parliament.”

The al-Ghadir International Festival for Media started on Wednesday and is expected to continue until Friday. The event is attended by 70 Iraqi media outlets, as well as 113 foreign media outlets from 15 different countries. With regards to the leaked recordings, Amiri stated that he condemns these actions, adding that those who are behind the leaks “have no morals” and are an example of “degenerate” media built on “lies”. 

The position of Iraq’s presidency is reserved to the Kurds. The PUK have held the office since 2005, but the KDP has challenged its longtime rival for the post, stating that the president should be selected by the KDP as it is the Kurdish bloc with the highest number of seats in the Iraqi parliament.

The inability to agree on a single candidate for Iraq’s next president, suggests the possibility of repeating the 2018 scenario where the KDP and the PUK fielded different candidates and the position was settled in a vote in the parliament, in which the PUK’s Barham Salih emerged victorious over the KDP’s Fuad Hussein.

Amiri also called on the Coordination Framework, a pro-Iran Shiite parliamentary faction, to select a candidate for the position of Iraq’s premier and speed up the process of forming the next government.

Last week, Amiri denied the rumors that he would be the Coordination Framework's candidate for Iraq's prime minister, stressing that he will support any candidate the alliance ends up selecting.

Iraq held early elections in October of last year, but has been unsuccessful in forming a government as of yet due to disagreements between the parliament’s components.