PM Barzani calls Iraq's new president to offer congratulations

Shafaq News/ Kurdistan's Prime Minister Masrour Barzani called Abdullatif Rashid to congratulate him on his election as a new president of Iraq following a run-off vote earlier today, Thursday.

Prime Minister Barzani, in an official statement, attached "huge importance" to the role of president-elect in "safeguarding the constitutional rights of all the Iraqis, the Kurds included."

"We all have endured many tensions and turmoils. We should dedicate a true will to open a new page. The demands of the people can no longer be a secondary issue," he added.

Lawmakers in Iraq have elected Kurdish politician Abdul Latif Rashid as the country’s new president, paving the way for the formation of a new government and ending a year of deadlock.

He replaces fellow Iraqi Kurd Barham Salih as head of state after the two-round vote in parliament on Thursday, winning more than 160 votes against 99 for Saleh, an assembly official said.

Rashid, 78, is a British-educated engineer and was the Iraqi minister of water resources from 2003 to 2010. He has 15 days to invite a nominee from the largest parliamentary bloc to form a government.

At least 269 of the 329 lawmakers attended the voting session on Thursday afternoon, which came hours after nine rockets struck areas near Baghdad’s Green Zone, where the parliament is located.

A first round of voting on the presidential nomination failed to reach the required two-thirds majority.

Iraq had already made three failed attempts this year to elect a new head of state from February 7 to March 30.

The country has witnessed months of political deadlock after powerful Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr last year emerged as the biggest winner in a parliamentary vote, but failed to rally enough support to form a government.

Al-Sadr has withdrawn his parliamentarians from the assembly and in August announced he would quit politics, prompting the worst violence in Baghdad for years.

While the presidency is a largely ceremonial position, the vote is a key step in Iraq's political process because the president invites the nominee of the largest parliamentary bloc to form a government.

Under a power-sharing system designed to avoid sectarian conflict, Iraq’s president is Kurdish, its prime minister is Shia and its parliament speaker is Sunni.