Barham Salih Becomes New President of Iraq

Iraqi state television announced on Tuesday, October 2, that the country's parliament has elected Barham Salih, an experienced Kurdish politician, as the new President of Iraq, taking another step towards forming a new government. According to the report, Salih from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan received 220 votes out of a total of 273 from the Iraqi parliament members. Mr. Salih competed with 19 other candidates for this position, including a representative from his rival party, the Kurdistan Democratic Party. These two parties have dominated the political landscape in Iraqi Kurdistan for several decades. According to an informal agreement dating back to 2003 during the American invasion of Iraq, the President of Iraq is chosen from among the Kurds, although the presidency in Iraq is largely ceremonial. Additionally, the Prime Minister's position must be held by a Shia Muslim, and the presidency of the Iraqi parliament is assigned to a Sunni Muslim. Barham Salih is the third president elected in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Hamid al-Moussawi, a Shia member of the Iraqi parliament, stated that the parliament was supposed to elect the president on Monday, but the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan could not agree on a candidate for the presidency. This parliament member added that on Tuesday, the Speaker of the Iraqi parliament decided to hold a vote among 20 presidential candidates. Barham Salih was born in 1960 and joined the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in 1976. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, Salih has held various positions in the Iraqi government, including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Planning. The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman welcomed Salih's election as the President of Iraq on Tuesday. The new President of Iraq has 15 days to assign the task of forming a new government to the candidates of the majority parties and groups in the parliament. The chosen Prime Minister must introduce his cabinet to the parliament within 30 days. The Iraqi parliament has a total of 329 seats, and in the parliamentary elections held in May of this year, none of the coalitions succeeded in obtaining a majority, thus necessitating larger coalitions among the parties and coalitions that entered the parliament. The 'Sairoon' coalition, supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, and several other parties, including the Iraqi Communist Party, secured 54 seats; the 'Fatah' coalition led by Hadi al-Amiri and affiliated with Shia militias secured 47 seats; the 'Nasr' coalition led by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi secured 42 seats; and the 'State of Law' coalition led by Nouri al-Maliki secured 25 seats.