Shafaq News- Erbil

Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani has rejected attempts to proceed with Iraq’s presidential election in a session scheduled for Saturday, describing efforts to advance the vote without agreement on a prime minister as “unacceptable.”

In a post on X on Friday, Barzani criticized factions within the Shiite Coordination Framework (CF) —the largest parliamentary bloc with more than 185 seats in Iraq’s 329-member parliament— for pushing the presidential track while “others deliberately stall the selection of a prime minister,” stressing that “no constitutional entitlement will move forward” unless both files are resolved in parallel with full participation from all parties.

Iraq’s Parliament Presidency has set April 11 for the vote, a step required before naming a prime minister under the post-2003 power-sharing system, which allocates the presidency to a Kurd, the premiership to a Shiite, and the speakership to a Sunni Arab. The process has stalled amid disputes between the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) over a joint candidate, preventing the quorum needed for a vote.

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On the Shiite side, the CF nominated former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki in January, but internal divisions between supporters and opponents, along with US opposition, have delayed consensus, with al-Maliki maintaining that any change must come through a formal alliance decision. Reflecting the broader deadlock, Second Deputy Speaker Farhad Atrushi from the KDP objected to proceeding with the session, arguing that political forces still need further dialogue and must be informed of any prime ministerial nominee before a vote.

Read more: Iraq PM race stuck between largest bloc dispute and US pressure

Iraq has exceeded the constitutional 30-day deadline to elect a president by more than two months, with 148 days elapsed since the November 2025 elections and no government formed.