All eyes on Saturday’s parliamentary session as Iraqi presidential post deadline looms

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq's two biggest parliamentary alliances: Save the Homeland Alliance and the Coordination Framework are at loggerheads over the position of president of Iraq as Saturday is set as the date when parliament will convene to elect a new president. However, the Coordination Framework's threats of boycotting the session have cast a shadow of uncertainty over its success.

The tripartite alliance between the Sadrist Movement, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and the Sunni Sovereignty Alliance on Wednesday announced their nomination for the Iraqi presidency, selecting the KDP's Reber Ahmed.

Before calls from influential Shiite cleric and head of the Sadrist Movement Muqtada al-Sadr for independent MPs to attend Saturday's session, the Save the Homeland Alliance had 178 seats. Around 50 independent MPs and other coalitions will also attend the session, according to a Sadrist MP, raising the total number of attendees to 230, exceeding the required 220 MPs to commence the session.

Sherwan Dubardani, a KDP MP, told Rudaw that the 220 MPs required to complete the legal quorum for Saturday's session have been guaranteed.

However, many MPs are doubtful of the success of the upcoming session. "Saturday's session requires the presence of two-thirds of members of the House of Representatives, as the Federal Supreme Court decided, and this number is very difficult if there is no agreement and understanding in the next two days," Salam al-Zubaidi, an MP of the Victory Alliance, which is part of the Coordination Framework, told Rudaw on Thursday.

The Coordination Framework’s Persistence Alliance, consisting of over 100 MPs, have expressed their intention to boycott the session, as they persist in attempts to form a government based on political consensus, one that opposes a "national majority government" wanted by Sadr.

Leader of the State of Law Coalition Nouri al-Maliki rejected Sadr's claim to have the largest bloc, saying that "the Coordination Framework is the largest bloc," in an interview with his own TV channel on Wednesday. "If Saturday's session is not held, the tripartite alliance will be forced to hold negotiations in order to reach an understanding with the Coordination Framework," he added.

Ahmed, the tripartite alliance's nominee for the presidency, expressed his gratitude for the nomination, stating that he was "honored to have gained the trust of the Save the Homeland Alliance."

"I pledge to work to consolidate the foundations of a modern institutional state that meets the aspirations of citizens," read Ahmed's statement.
If the legal quorum of 220 MPs present in Saturday's vote for president is reached, the session's legitimacy will not be dependent on the presence of the Coordination Framework and the PUK.

Plans of a united Kurdish front in Baghdad failed to come to fruition after the KDP made agreements with the Sadrists and the Sunni Taqadum coalition, a move that the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) considers to be a disadvantage for Kurds.

Iraq held snap elections on October 10. The vote was called in response to mass protest in the country beginning in October 2019, caused by widespread dissatisfaction with Iraq's politicians and endemic corruption in the country.