Main Kurdish parties unite behind Nizar Amedi for Iraq presidency

Shafaq News- Baghdad

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the two main Kurdish parties, have agreed to nominate Nizar Amedi as their joint candidate for Iraq’s presidency, a PUK lawmaker told Shafaq News on Sunday.

MP Ahlam Ramadan noted that attention is now shifting to Shiite political blocs to settle the nomination of a prime minister. Although parliament is expected to convene on February 17, she added, a date for the presidential vote has not yet been scheduled.

Under Iraq’s informal power-sharing arrangement, the presidency is allocated to a Kurd, the premiership to a Shiite, and the speakership to a Sunni Arab. Previous attempts to elect a president collapsed because divisions between the KDP and PUK prevented the quorum required for a vote.

Amid the stalemate, Parliament Speaker Haibet Al-Halbousi requested that the Federal Supreme Court interpret Article 72 (Second/B) of the Constitution, which stipulates that the president remains in office until a successor is elected within 30 days of parliament’s first session, a deadline that expired on January 28. Parliament has continued to meet but has not scheduled a presidential vote due to insufficient attendance, prompting the request for clarification.

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