Baghdad, Iraq – Iraqi Parliament Speaker Haibat al-Halbousi has set next Tuesday as the date for the session to elect the president of the republic. This was announced by the parliament’s media office in a statement received by Baghdad Today. Last Friday, the parliament announced the final list of candidates for the presidency, which includes 19 nominees. The list is headed by the current president, Abdul Latif Rashid, and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein. Fuad Hussein is considered one of the most prominent candidates from the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
The list also included former Erbil governor Nawzad Hadi, current MP Muthanna Amin, and Nizar Mohammed Saeed Mohammed Kanji (Nizar Amidi). It also featured prominent candidates from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), along with other nominees such as Shwan Hawiz, Ahmed Abdullah, Hussein Taha Sinjari, Najm al-Din Nasrallah, Asu Faridun, Saman Shali, Sabah Saleh, Abdullah Al-Ulayawi, Iqbal Haliwi, Sardar Times, Khalid Sadiq, Azad Majid, Rafi Musa, and Salem Al-Saadi. This election is part of Iraq’s political quota system, where the presidency is reserved for a Kurd, the prime ministership for a Shia, and the speakership of parliament for a Sunni. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the PUK typically compete for this position. Hebat al-Halbousi was elected speaker of parliament on December 29th. The constitution mandates that parliament elect the president within one month of its first session, a deadline that expires at the end of January.
