Iraq's Parliament faces search for new President of Government

The Iraqi Parliament and its entire legislative body have scheduled a meeting for 7 February to hold a vote and elect the new president of the Republic of Iraq. This act of government formation is highly symbolic and important, especially after the general elections of 10 October, which were challenged before Iraq's Federal Supreme Court by a coalition of Shiite parties on the grounds of alleged fraud, but the highest Iraqi court dismissed the lawsuit and upheld the results of the legislative elections. The ruling will allow for the search for a new president of the state.

Iraq's main objective is the formation of a government and thus the search for and election of a government president. As a result, Parliament has approved a list of a total of 25 candidates for the post of government president, whose names were announced on 31 January. The 10 October vote was the fifth election poll to be held since the 2003 invasion. The first session of parliament took place on 9 January, at which Iraq's parliamentary speaker, Mohamad al-Halbusi, was elected, although his post was temporarily suspended following the Shia lawsuit filed by the Shia in the Supreme Court. 

According to the unofficial alliance between Iraq's political parties, the post of President of the Government belongs to a member of the Kurdish community, while the post of Prime Minister belongs to a member of the Shia ethnic group, and the Speaker of Parliament belongs to the Sunni ethnic group. The other government posts are also divided between the political parties on the basis of ethnic and religious origin.

This division of power often leads to disagreements, as in the case of the Kurds over the position of the Presidency of the government. Both the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Party (PUK) have failed to reach an agreement on the future presidential candidate as a result of major divisions between the two parties. It is true that there is a historical agreement among the Kurdish community that the position of the president of the government is linked to the PUK, while the leadership of the Kurdish autonomous region of Iraq is held by the KDP. 

However, this arrangement changed as the Kurdistan Democratic Party gained control of 329 seats in the Iraqi parliament, while the Kurdistan Alliance, led by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Party, only won a total of 17 seats. The latter party has nominated Barham Salih as a possible candidate for the post of president, while the KDP has nominated Hoshyar Zebari, a former foreign and finance minister. Both candidates are senior Kurdish politicians who played key roles in the post-Saddam Hussein Republic of Iraq and were also important figures in the Iraqi opposition before the US-led invasion of Iraqi territory.

Barham Salih served as Deputy Prime Minister for two terms, as well as Minister of Planning, as well as Prime Minister of the KRG. Hoshyar Zebari served as Minister of Finance in 2016, while in office he faced a no-confidence motion in Parliament over alleged corruption and accusations of misuse of funds, and was eventually removed from office, although he always denied any wrongdoing. In addition to these two presidential candidates, other candidates include Abdul-Latif Jamal Rasheed, former Minister of Water Resources, and Rizgar Mohammed Amin, the chief judge in one of Saddam's trials.

Once the president is elected, he will have 15 days to formally commission the candidate of the largest parliamentary bloc to form a government, in accordance with the constitution. The prime minister will then have 30 days to present his cabinet to parliament for approval.