Whoever is nominated from the 2 Kurdish events nonetheless wants the approval from the Shia and Sunni blocs within the parliament.
Revealed On 27 Jan 2026
Iraq’s parliament has postponed the election for the nation’s subsequent president to permit for extra consultations between the 2 Kurdish events to agree on a candidate.
The Iraqi Information Company (INA) stated the parliamentary vote scheduled for Tuesday was delayed on the request of the Kurdistan Democratic Occasion (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
Advisable Tales
checklist of 4 gadgetsfinish of checklist
Iraq follows a sectarian quota system, in keeping with which the publish of the prime minister goes to a Shia, the parliament’s speaker is a Sunni, and the largely ceremonial presidency goes to a Kurd.
Normally, in an settlement between the 2 principal Kurdish events, a PUK member holds the presidency. In distinction, the president and regional chief of the semi-autonomous Kurdish area are chosen from the KDP.
Nonetheless, on this occasion, the KDP introduced its personal candidate, Overseas Minister Fuad Hussein, for the election.
Reporting from the capital, Baghdad, Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed stated whoever is nominated from the 2 Kurdish events nonetheless wants the approval from the Shia and Sunni blocs within the parliament.
After the election, the brand new president can have 15 days to nominate a chief minister, who’s broadly anticipated to be the previous chief, Nouri al-Maliki.
Al-Maliki, 75, has already served as Iraq’s prime minister for 2 phrases from 2006 to 2014 earlier than he give up beneath stress from america. He’s seen as being near Iran.
On Saturday, the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Shia events which holds a parliamentary majority, endorsed Maliki. The subsequent day, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned towards a pro-Iranian authorities in Iraq.
An Iraqi supply near the Coordination Framework advised the AFP information company that Washington had conveyed to it that it “holds a damaging view of earlier governments led by former Prime Minister Maliki”.
In a letter, US representatives stated that whereas the number of the prime minister is an Iraqi resolution, “america will make its personal sovereign selections concerning the following authorities according to American pursuits”.
One other Iraqi supply confirmed the letter, including that the Shia alliance had nonetheless moved ahead with its alternative, assured that Maliki may allay Washington’s considerations.
Iraq has lengthy been a proxy battleground between the US and Iran, with successive governments negotiating a fragile steadiness between the 2 foes.
