Iraq Will Try To Pick New President But Questions Remain

(AFP)

Speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi announced that Iraq’s parliament would meet October 13 to pick a president and move forward in selecting a new government. There are open questions about what will happen during the session.

 

The first problem is that the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have not picked a candidate for president. The PUK wants to re-elect President Barham Salah while the KDP wants Riber Ahmed to take the position. The PUK has held the presidency since the first post-Saddam elections in 2005 but the KDP is now the dominant political party in Kurdistan and wants to have all the top Kurdish positions.

 

A delegation from Baghdad recently went to Kurdistan during the weekend and met with the KDP and PUK. The representatives offered Massoud Barzani of the KDP to withdraw Hashd forces from the Sinjar district in Ninewa or for the PUK to nominate someone else for the presidency and in return Barzani would get more ministries in return for a compromise on the presidency. The Kurds rejected those proposals and asked for more time. The PUK is unwilling to make any concessions on this matter because it has already lost out to the KDP at the ballot box and for control of Kurdistan. On the other hand, if the KDP hadn’t insisted on taking the presidency a new Iraqi government might have been created months ago.

 

The second issue is that the Coordination Framework still can’t agree on their strategy. There are different opinions about the October 13 session of parliament. Fatah’s Hadi Amiri doesn’t want a president named on that date while State of Law’s Nuri al-Maliki is insisting upon it. Next, the Framework hasn’t decided on how to divide up the ministries and other government offices between its component parts. The problem is there aren’t enough ministries set aside for Shiites as part of the ethnosectarian quota system created in 2005 for the number of parties within the Framework. The winners use a points system to negotiate who gets what offices based upon how many seats they won. The Framework would have to give that up the points to make sure all its parties get positions. Picking a president then would not automatically lead to a new prime minister and cabinet because there’s no agreement on who gets what. Controlling the state is the main goal of the ruling parties so nothing can move forward until this is resolved.

 

Finally, Maliki is pushing for a majority government now which he rejected when Moqtada al-Sadr called for one. Maliki has become so frustrated one year after elections that he is proposing to make a new administration without the Kurds and Sadrists. There are factions within the Framework which reject that because they want a consensus government where all the winning parties are included. Maliki wants to control the Framework and the new administration but he’s opposed by factions within his own list which is another reason why things are deadlocked in Iraq.

 

SOURCES

 

Al Aalem, “The Irbil meeting .. Barzani asked for extra time and the Frameworks seeks to be decisive,” 10/11/22

 

Al Mada, “Behind the page of the president’s knot 4 controversial files within the Coordination Framework obstructed the formation of the government,” 10/9/22

- “The Coordination Framework pushes to ignore the Kurds and Al-Sadr in forming the government .. Al-Abadi warns of a popular revolution,” 10/11/22

 

Al Monitor, “Iraqi parliament sets date to pick president at last,” 10/11/22

 

NINA, “Al-Shammari: Barham Salih Is The Most Likely To Be Elected President of the Republic,” 10/11/22

 

NRT, “Iraqi MPs Sign Petition To Hold Presidential Vote On Wednesday,” 10/10/22