Parliament to vote for a president o February 7th

Shafaq News/ Iraqi parliament will hold a vote to determine who will succeed the incumbent President of the Republic, Barham Salih, on February 7th.

Endorsed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Salih will be running for a second term in office.

However, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), who secured 31 seats in the recent parliamentary election-well ahead of the PUK's 18, has put forth the name of Hoshyar Zebari, a member of the KDP's Politburo and Iraq's former Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Talks between the PUK and KDP collapsed with the two leading Kurdish parties engaged in a strained war of words heated with reciprocal recriminations.

A few days after lifting their suspension following an order by Iraq's supreme court, the Parliament Speaker, Mohammad al-Halboosi, and his deputies convened earlier today to deliberate the procedures related to nominating and electing the next president.

A statement issued afterward said that the parliament presidium will announce a list of eligible candidates on January 31st.