Parliamentary divisions stall Iraq presidency vote as dissolution threat looms

Shafaq News– Baghdad

Iraq’s presidential election session failed on Sunday due to unresolved disputes among Kurdish, Shiite, and Sunni factions over competing Kurdish nominees, a parliamentary source told Shafaq News.

According to the source, attendance reached only about 120 lawmakers, well short of quorum. Political forces are now awaiting the outcome of talks led by a delegation from the Shiite Coordination Framework, the largest parliamentary bloc, in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Erbil and Al-Sulaymaniyah, which are expected to shape the next move and determine whether a new vote will be scheduled.

The Council of Representatives had planned to hold the vote on February 1 but suspended the session “until further notice.” Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani denied that an agreement had been reached between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), confirming that both parties will continue to put forward their respective nominees, Fuad Hussein and Nizar Amedi, to compete in parliament.

Shiite and Sunni blocs are also split between supporting PUK nominee Amedi and KDP candidate Hussein.

Speaking to Shafaq News, Mahmoud Falih, a Khadamat (Services) Party lawmaker, criticized the legislature’s handling of the process, arguing that parliament has twice failed to meet constitutional requirements for electing a president. He accused lawmakers of breaching constitutional timelines by repeatedly convening without sufficient attendance, while warning another failed session would prompt him to seek signatures to dissolve parliament under Article 64 of the Iraqi constitution.

A previous sitting scheduled for January 27 was also postponed at the request of the two Kurdish parties to allow further negotiations.

Under Iraq’s post-2003 power-sharing system, the presidency is allocated to a Kurd, the premiership to a Shiite Arab, and the speakership to a Sunni Arab. The constitution requires parliament to elect a president within one month of its first session, a deadline that passed on January 28, though disagreement persists over whether official holidays pause the timeframe, a question referred to the Supreme Judicial Council.

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