The Iraqi parliament is holding a session to elect the president of the republic amid competition from 16 candidates for the position (update)
The Iraqi parliament is holding a session to elect the president of the republic amid competition from 16 candidates for the position (update)
2026-04-11
Shafaq News – Baghdad
The Iraqi parliament began its session on Saturday to vote on a new president for the country, amid objections from some political forces due to the lack of consensus that usually precedes important and sensitive sessions.
A correspondent for Shafaq News Agency said that Parliament Speaker Heba al-Halbousi opened the session after achieving the legal quorum with the attendance of 223 MPs.
The council quickly began the procedures for electing the president of the republic. In this regard, Al-Halbousi said in a speech that the number of candidates for this position was 18 people, while two candidates withdrew, namely (Asu Faridun Ali) and the current president (Abdul Latif Muhammad Jamal), so the number became only 16.
In a related context, the reporter said that Nizar Amidi, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s most likely candidate for the position, arrived at the parliament building with a number of the party’s top leaders, including Pavel Talabani, the head of the Patriotic Union.
Iraq has exceeded the constitutional deadline by about 70 days, while 148 days have passed without the formation of a new government in a political impasse that has continued since the legislative elections in October/November 2025.
This comes amid the intersection of two political crises, the first being Kurdish, related to the nominations for the presidency, as the Democratic Party first put forward Fuad Hussein and then Nawzad Hadi before the latter withdrew, in contrast to the Patriotic Union’s insistence on Nizar Amidi before he later spoke of an understanding on his name, and the second being Shiite, related to the premiership, after the Coordination Framework nominated Nouri al-Maliki, but his nomination was met with an open American rejection and internal disputes that divided the Framework between supporters, opponents and those with reservations, which kept the files of the two presidencies suspended until now.
shafaq.com
