The date of the first parliamentary session has been corrected from December 30 to December 29.
A total of 81 candidates, including four women, have submitted applications to run for the largely ceremonial position of President of Iraq, a role traditionally held by a Kurd, the Iraqi Parliament reported on Monday after the nomination period closed.
Under Iraq’s sectarian power-sharing system, established after the country’s first multiparty elections in 2005, following the U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, the Prime Minister—holding the strongest executive powers—is always a Shia politician, the Speaker of Parliament is a Sunni, and the presidency is reserved for a Kurdish politician.
Within the Kurdish political sphere, there is a historic rivalry between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), based in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan Region, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), based in Sulaymaniyah, the region’s second-largest city.
On Monday, the Iraqi Parliament released a list of all 81 presidential candidates.
The KDP nominated Acting Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein (76) and former Erbil governor Nuzhad Hadi (63) for the position. Meanwhile, the PUK put forward a single candidate, former Environment Minister Nazar Amidi (57).
Other prominent candidates include current Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid (81), former PUK leader Mala Bakhtiar (71), and Jouan Fuad Masum (56), the daughter of former President Fuad Masum.
Iraq typically faces political fragmentation and delays in reaching consensus on top positions, with usual political rivalries often obstructing constitutional deadlines.
The new parliament held its first session on December 29, about two months after the election, electing a Speaker and a First Deputy Speaker. The following day, after two failed voting rounds due to disagreements, a Second Deputy Speaker, a Kurd, was elected in line with political norms.
According to the constitution, the president must be elected by the parliament within 30 days of the first session, requiring a two-thirds majority. The elected president then has 15 days to assign a Prime Minister, who must be the nominee of the largest parliamentary bloc and holds the actual executive power. Once appointed, the Prime Minister has 30 days to form a government.
