Shafaq News- Erbil

Farhad Atrushi, second deputy speaker of Iraq’s parliament, on Tuesday rejected media reports claiming internal disagreements within the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) over the Iraqi presidency as “inaccurate.”

In a statement from his media office, Atrushi, a senior KDP official, urged outlets to verify information before publication and stressed that any decision issued by the party's leader, Masoud Barzani, on the presidency would be implemented “in the interest of the public good.”

The remarks came after the Council of Representatives failed to convene its scheduled February 1 session to elect a president, as the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the two main Kurdish parties in the Kurdistan Region, remained divided over a unified nominee, backing Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and Nizar Amedi, respectively.

Read more: Iraq’s Presidential Race: Kurdish candidates competing for the post

Amid the deadlock, a delegation from the Shiite Coordination Framework (CF), the largest bloc in parliament, traveled to the Kurdistan Region yesterday for talks with PUK leader Bafel Talabani and Barzani on a mechanism to select the head of state and avoid recurring impasses. A lawmaker told Shafaq News on Tuesday that the CF has given the KDP and PUK 48 hours to agree on a presidential candidate.