The two Kurdish parties are meeting separately to decide on the position of President of Iraq through four candidates.
The two Kurdish parties are meeting separately to decide on the position of President of Iraq through four candidates.
2026-01-02 03:55
Shafaq News – Erbil / Sulaymaniyah / Baghdad
The leadership of the two main parties in the Kurdistan Region (the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) are scheduled to hold separate meetings in the governorates of Erbil and Sulaymaniyah on Saturday, to discuss the issue of the position of President of the Republic separately.
After the Iraqi parliament elected its new speaker, who is from the Sunni component, it was the Kurds’ turn to present their candidate for the position of President of the Republic, which is from this component. It has been customary for this position to go to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, but in the last two election cycles, the Kurdistan Democratic Party objected to this and began demanding that a candidate from among them assume this position, especially after it swept the elections with the highest number of votes in the two cycles.
Regarding the two meetings, an informed source told Shafaq News Agency that the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan will hold an important meeting tomorrow, Saturday, to present its candidates for the position of President of the Republic, indicating that both Nizar Amadi and Khalid Shwani have been nominated for this position.
The source explained that the candidates will be officially presented during tomorrow’s meeting, which will be held in the presence of the party leader, Bafel Talabani, in preparation for making the final decision regarding the Patriotic Union candidate.
At the end of 2025, Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani called for a change in the mechanism for electing the Iraqi president, which is the “quota of the Kurds,” while he submitted a proposal that stipulates that this position be held by a candidate chosen by the Kurdish parties and blocs, and not necessarily be exclusive to the two main parties in the region (the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan).
In contrast, the same source indicated that the Kurdistan Democratic Party will also hold a meeting in Erbil tomorrow, chaired by Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, and attended by his two deputies, Nechirvan Barzani and Masrour Barzani.
The source revealed that during the meeting, both Reber Ahmed, the current Interior Minister of the region, and the current Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein, will be nominated for the position of President of the Republic.
The sources added that the next step is to hold an expanded meeting that includes the leaders of the two parties (the KDP and the PUK) in an attempt to reach a political consensus that leads to the selection of only one candidate to represent the Kurdish House for the position of President of the Republic, which is what the other political blocs are demanding to ensure that the entitlement is passed without complications.
After the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in the spring of 2003 at the hands of American forces and their allies, the major political forces of the Shiites, Kurds, and Sunnis adopted a quota system in distributing positions for the three presidencies: the Prime Minister’s office, the Republic, and Parliament.
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