On Wednesday, 19th September, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) announced that it has nominated Barham Salih for Iraq’s presidency. The nominee is reportedly the party’s sole candidate for the post. Asos Ali, a member of the PUK leadership council, stated that Salih was selected in a secret ballot, beating two other contenders, Latif Rashif and Mohammed Sabir. Ali stated that Salih will have to re-join the party, which he left in 2017 to form the Coalition for Democracy and Justice (CDJ).
According to reports, Salih, along with an undisclosed number of other members of the party, submitted his letter of resignation to the CDJ. His resignation has been accepted by the party’s leadership, which appears to be in support of Salih’s move to join the PUK and become a nominee for the role of President of Iraq.
While it has been a long-standing consensus that the Iraqi Presidency position is reserved for nominees from the PUK, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) have stated that its party members should also be permitted to run for the position. The KDP, for its part, has nominated Fuad Hussein, the former chief of staff to the KRG presidency, for the role.
The PUK and the KDP have recently seen an improvement in relations and they have agreed to act as a single bloc in Baghdad; however, the issue of the country’s presidency remains the main disagreement between the two parties. This disagreement could reignite the rivalry and cause further divisions within the Kurdish camp in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, former Member of Parliament for Gorran, Sardar Abdullah, head of Gorran Bloc, Srwa Abdulwahid, and Iraq’s Ambassador to Rome, Omar Barzinji, have also nominated themselves as independent candidates for the role. According to the newly elected Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Mohammed al-Halbousi, a total of 30 applications for the largely ceremonial presidential post have been submitted.
On Saturday, 22nd September, Halbousi, along with Deputy Speaker and KDP lawmaker Bashir Haddad, visited Erbil to meet with PUK and KDP officials in order to reach a consensus regarding the presidential candidate. Although both parties reiterated their commitment to the constitutional timeline pertaining to the election of the Iraqi President and the formation of the Iraqi Government, neither side have yet reached a decision for a single candidate going forward. At present, the PUK and the KDP have until the 2nd October to reach a compromise before the deadline for presidential candidate submissions.
If the two parties do not agree on one candidate, more than one name will be presented to parliament, which will then vote to select one person for the presidential role. If the Kurdish parties fail to present parliament with a single candidate, it is unlikely that any of the candidates will secure the necessary two-thirds vote majority. As a result, another parliamentary session would need to be held, during which the next Iraqi President will be elected on the basis of whoever receives a majority of the member’s votes.