Today, Saturday, the Iraqi Council of Representatives (Parliament) voted to re-open the door for candidacy for the post of President of the Republic to move forward in electing a candidate before forming the next government.
And the House of Representatives said - in a statement - that Parliament voted to approve the reopening of the nomination for the presidency during a session attended by 265 deputies out of 329 (the total number of parliamentarians).
He added that 203 deputies voted in favor of the resolution, while 62 deputies rejected it.
On the seventh of last February, Parliament failed to hold the session dedicated to electing a new president, after the majority of the political blocs boycotted the session, as a result of differences over the candidates and also regarding the formation of the next government.
On the following day, with the expiry of the constitutional deadline for electing the president, Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi announced the reopening of the candidacy for the position of president, but the Federal Supreme Court later ruled that al-Halbousi’s decision was unconstitutional, and said that it should be voted on by approval within the parliament, and not by a decision of its president.
The Federal Court rejected the decision to reopen the candidacy for the post of President of the Republic because it was not voted on by Parliament (Al-Jazeera)
With the opening of the candidacy door, the Kurdistan Democratic Party led by Masoud Barzani (31 seats) can present its candidate, the Minister of Interior of the Kurdistan Region, Riber Ahmed, to compete for the position, after its former candidate, Hoshyar Zebari, was excluded by a judicial decision for not meeting the required conditions.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party candidate will compete for the position with the current president, Barham Salih, the candidate of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (17 seats) led by Bafel Talabani.
According to a political custom followed in Iraq since 2006, the Kurds occupy the position of the President of the Republic, the Sunnis head the parliament, and the Shiites head the government.
The election of the president of the republic requires a quorum of two-thirds of the parliament session, i.e. more than 220 deputies, which seems difficult with the boycott of the coordination framework (Shiite political blocs rejecting the election results).
More than 5 months after the early parliamentary elections, Al-Sadr is still insisting on forming a national majority government on his terms.
Among the candidates for the presidency are veteran politicians, most notably the current president, Barham Salih, a leader in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
The election of a new president for the country is an indispensable step to move forward in forming the next government, in accordance with the country's constitution, following the early parliamentary elections that took place last October.
The country is experiencing a political crisis due to differences - between the political forces winning parliamentary seats - regarding the next prime minister and how to form the next government, and differences prevail among the Kurds over the presidential candidate.