The former judge who tried Saddam Hussein nominated himself as a compromise candidate for the Iraqi presidency

Shafaq News/ Rizgar Mohammed Amin said he could be chosen as a compromise candidate for the Iraqi presidency.

Amin, the former chief judge who tried the former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, said that he does not want to win the Iraqi presidency without the Kurdish blocs support, affirming that he did not hold talks with any party to take this position.

"If one of the two main Kurdish parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) or the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), did not vote for me, I will not win." He said.

Amin expected that we would be selected as a compromise candidate by the two Kurdish parties, saying, "My candidacy could become a reason for unifying the Kurdish House. If the parties do not agree on a candidate, I will become a candidate for the two parties."

Rizgar Mohammed Amin, 65, is the former chief judge of the Iraqi Special Tribunal's Al-Dujail trial. He is the only judge whose name was revealed on the trial's opening on 19 October 2005.

Amin graduated from the Law School of Baghdad University in 1980. He is an ethnic Kurd, though he has no record of political activism.

Because he had refused to join the Ba'ath party, he was only admitted to the college of judges in 1990, after working in a subordinate position for ten years. Amin was appointed chief judge of the regional court by Jalal Talabani in the mid-1990s.

On 14 January 2006, he resigned as chief judge of the trials of Saddam Hussein due to government interference and harsh public criticism. He was replaced by Rauf Rashid Abd al-Rahman.

While the PUK insists upon naming Barham Salih for a second mandate, its rival (Kurdistan Democratic Party-KDP) does not agree that he has "adequately discharged" the role of President and named Hoshyar Zebari as its candidate for the position.

Per the power-sharing formula between the two leading Kurdish parties, the President of the Republic was usually named by the PUK. However, this might change in light of the parliamentary election results that saw the KDP securing 31 seats, compared to the PUK's 17.