ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Nominations for Iraq’s presidency opened on Sunday and will close on Monday, with at least 42 candidates submitting forms so far, as uncertainty persists over whether the Kurdistan Region’s parties will put forward a unified Kurdish nominee.
Rudaw has learned that 42 people have filled out candidacy forms for the Iraqi presidency, as the registration window opened on Sunday and is set to close on Monday.
A Kurdish member of the Iraqi parliament from the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), Muthana Amin, said he has decided to nominate himself on Monday as there is still time to do so “once things clear up” regarding the position of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
Last week, the Iraqi parliament elected its speaker and two deputies, triggering a three-day window for political blocs to submit nominees for the largely ceremonial presidency. Since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the post has traditionally gone to the PUK, though the KDP is also seeking the position.
Amin said he has held talks with other opposition parties - the National Stance Movement (Halwest), the New Generation Movement (NGM), and the Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal), and that as of Saturday, they “have said we won’t have [our own] candidates, and we will support you.”
In the November 11 elections, the KDP won 27 seats, the PUK 18, Halwest five, the KIU four, the NGM three, and Komal one.
However, the NGM said in a statement that it has not held any meetings with “any political party, especially the Kurdistan Islamic Union,” regarding the presidency.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, two sources from the KDP Central Committee and Political Bureau told Rudaw that one option under discussion is for the KDP not to nominate a candidate, instead asking the PUK to put forward several names, from which the KDP would consent to one. At the same time, the KDP is requesting that steps to form the 10th Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cabinet be expedited.