The Iraqi Parliament is scheduled to elect a new President of the Republic in a session to be held this Tuesday, according to an announcement made Sunday by Speaker of Parliament, Hibeit al-Halbousi.
Al-Halbousi, as quoted by the Iraqi News Agency, stated that the presidential election session will take place on January 27th. This pivotal step is expected to pave the way for the designation of a Prime Minister tasked with forming the new government.
Nouri al-Maliki is widely considered the frontrunner for the Prime Minister position, having been nominated by the ‘Coordination Framework’ coalition, a bloc comprised of Shia parties and the largest parliamentary faction.
Al-Maliki, 76, previously served as Prime Minister from 2006 to 2014, a period marked by significant events in Iraq’s modern history. According to the constitution, the President-elect must designate a Prime Minister within 15 days of their election. This designated Prime Minister, chosen from the largest parliamentary bloc, then has 30 days to form a government.
Since the first multi-party elections in Iraq in 2005, two years after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, the Prime Minister position has been held by a Shia, effectively the head of the executive branch. The President has traditionally been a Kurd, and the Speaker of Parliament a Sunni.
The Kurdish political landscape is currently witnessing a historic rivalry between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), based in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), based in Sulaymaniyah, the region’s second-largest city. For the past two decades, the presidential post, largely a ceremonial role currently held by Abdul Latif Rashid, has been occupied by a candidate from the PUK.
Eighty-one individuals, including four women, have applied for the presidential nomination. Prominent candidates include the KDP’s nominee, current Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, 76, and the PUK’s nominee, former Environment Minister Nizar Amedi, 57.
Based on constitutional timelines, Parliament is obligated to elect a president within one month of its first session, which concluded with the election of al-Halbousi. This deadline expires at the end of January.
