SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi President Barham Salih on Tuesday announced his candidacy for the second term of the presidency.
Salih said in a televised speech that the country’s president should be a “symbol of the country’s unity and sovereignty, and a protector of the Constitution”.
“We succeeded in overcoming many problems and challenges,” Salih said, stressing the need for constitutional amendments in the next phase.
“We must eliminate the pandemic of corruption with the will and money of people,” he added.
Salih, a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) candidate, said he had proposed projects to eliminate corruption and to revive the country and its resources.
The Iraqi Council of Representatives is scheduled to hold a session on February 7 to elect a new president, who will call on the largest parliamentary alliance to form a government.
The newly-elected parliament announced names of 25 candidates who are running for the position of president.
Under an unofficial agreement dating back to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Iraq’s presidency — a largely ceremonial role — is held by a Kurd, while the prime minister is Shia and the parliament speaker is Sunni.
According to an agreement among the Kurdish parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) determines the candidate for the Iraqi presidency, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) maintains the presidency of the Kurdistan Region.
The KDP, however, has nominated Hoshyar Zebari as its candidate for the presidency, despite allegations he was involved in corruption.
In 2016, Iraqi parliament sacked Zebari from his post as finance minister over alleged corruptions and misuse of public funds. Zebari denied the accusations.
Zebari, who also served as Iraq’s foreign minister for more than a decade, lost a no-confidence vote by 158 to 77.
Iraqis have protested in Baghdad against his nomination in the past weeks, calling for on the federal court to refuse his nomination and prosecute him.
“The president of the Republic must be the president of all Iraqis,” Salih said in the televised speech. “I am committed to supporting national people and I won’t allow any pressure that disrespects the position of president.”
Salih further said the newly-elected parliament was chosen by the Iraqi nation so as to have “a power which is sovereign and away from interference”.
On January 9, lawmakers re-elected Sunni leader Mohammed al-Halbousi as the speaker and Hakim Zamli and Shakhawan Abdulla as deputies.
No single party holds an outright majority, so the next leader will be voted in by whichever coalition can negotiate allies to become the biggest bloc — which then elects Iraq’s president, who then appoints a prime minister.
In previous parliaments, parties from Iraq’s Shia majority have struck compromise deals to work together and form a government.
But Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has repeatedly said the next prime minister will be chosen by his movement.
So rather than strike an alliance with the powerful Shia Coordination Framework — which includes the pro-Iran al-Fateh alliance, the political arm of the former paramilitary Hashed al-Shaabi — Sadr has forged a new coalition, that includes Sunnis and Kurds.
