SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in a statement on Wednesday announced that Barham Salih is their “official” nominee for the position of Iraqi President.
“We want to make it clear for all sides that the PUK nominee for the President Position is Barham Salih,” Spokesperson of the PUK Soran Jamal Tahir in a statement said.
“Through this position, we seek to serve all sides and safeguard the constitution as well as national rights,” the statement added.
Iraq held its latest general elections on October 10, 2021. However, over a year after elections were held, the Iraqi parliament has not been able to elect a new president due to excessive disagreement among the political parties.
Under the power-sharing system established in the Iraqi constitution to prevent sectarian conflict, Iraq’s Prime Minister is Shiite and the President is Kurd, meanwhile, its speaker of parliament is Sunni.
According to the so-called “Strategic agreement” between the two prominent Kurdish parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), PUK has the right to claim the presidency position and it held it since 2005.
Based on the agreement KDP in return would get the presidency of the Kurdistan Region.
Both sides for years have followed the “agreement”, neither side challenged the candidates proposed by each other for years, until 2018 when the KDP for the first time put forward Fuad Hussein against Barham Salih for the position.
However, Hussein, who is now the Iraqi foreign minister, failed to succeed over Salih, and Salih was chosen as the country’s president.
Similar scenes occurred following the 2021 Iraqi early election when KDP introduced the Kurdistan Region’s Minister of Interior Rebar Ahmed for that position.
The Iraqi parliament is set to meet on Thursday to vote for a new president for the country.
Rumors circulated that the PUK has withdrawn Barham Salih but it refused in the above-mentioned statement.
*This story was updated at 1748 EBL time
