Iraq: 6 candidates run for president

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party yesterday submitted three nominations for the post of President of the Republic of Iraq, the Istanbul-based Anadolu Agency has reported, quoting a local political source.

The source added that the names of the PUK nominees “will be handed to the Iraqi parliament ahead of the voting session.”

On Monday, the Iraqi parliament began receiving applications for the post of president of Iraq, two days after the Sunni politician Mohammed Al-Halbusi was assumed as the assembly’s speaker.

Halbusi was unanimously elected as the parliament’s new speaker last Saturday. Post his appointment; the Iraqi parliament is entitled to form a new government in 15 days according to the constitution.

Read: Iraq parliament elects Sunni lawmaker al-Halbousi as speaker, breaking deadlock

The country’s presidential election results will be announced on 2 October 2018.

The source, who preferred anonymity, noted that the PUK’s presidential candidates were Barham Saleh, Latif Rashid, and Mullah Bakhtiar, adding that Saleh was the “most popular” among Shiite and Sunni blocs.

Also, the Iraqi Islamic party has nominated Salim Shoshk, while the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) nominated Fadhil Mirani for the position of the upcoming Iraqi president, according to the same source.

The independent politician and former head of the Gorran Movement at Iraq’s Parliament, Sardar Abdullah, recently announced that he would run for the presidency.

All the country’s political blocs, the source revealed, had agreed to support Barham Saleh’s candidacy.

The Iraqi politician, Adel Abdul Mahdi, who served as vice-president from 2005 to 2011 and the former Finance and Oil Minister, was reported yesterday to have emerged as the “best successor” for the current Iraqi Prime Minister, Haidar Al-Abadi.

Since the overthrow of the former Saddam Hussein administration, usually, the Sunnis win the parliament’s presidency, the Kurds with the country’s presidency, while the Shi’ites often earn the prime minister’s post.

Kurds: We should choose Iraq’s next president