Shafaq News/ The head of the New Generation (al-Jeel al-Jadeed) bloc, Shaswar Abdul-Wahed, on Saturday said that his bloc will vote for the presidential candidate of the party that pledges to provide services to the citizens of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.
"The New Generation Movement, and our allies in the Emtidad (Extension) movement, along with independent brothers and sisters in the parliament, will grant our votes to the political party that provides services to the citizens," Abdul-Wahed said in a press conference, "the coalition will hold a meeting to decide."
The Iraqi parliament will hold a vote to determine who will succeed the incumbent President of the Republic, Barham Salih, on February 7th.
Endorsed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Salih will be running for a second term in office.
However, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), who secured 31 seats in the recent parliamentary election-well ahead of the PUK's 18, has put forth the name of Hoshyar Zebari, a member of the KDP's Politburo and Iraq's former Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Talks between the PUK and KDP collapsed with the two leading Kurdish parties engaging in a strained war of words marred with reciprocal recriminations.
A few days after lifting their suspension following an order by Iraq's supreme court, the Parliament Speaker, Mohammad al-Halboosi, and his deputies convened earlier today to deliberate the procedures related to nominating and electing the next president.
A statement issued afterward said that the parliament presidium will announce a list of eligible candidates on January 31st.
