Iraq heads into make-or-break presidential vote with Kurds still on the fence
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq's parliament is to convene Saturday to elect a president after 70 days of constitutional breach and 148 days without a government, however, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), whose attendance is essential, has yet to commit, conditioning its participation on a national consensus that has so far proven elusive.
The April 11 session is the clearest opening yet to end a deadlock that has left a caretaker government -with half its cabinet now sitting in parliament after winning November's elections- struggling to manage a country under military assault, without oil export revenues, and unable to guarantee public sector salaries.
"We need a full-mandate government formed as quickly as possible," al-Hikma (Wisdom) Movement MP Zaidoun al-Nabhani told Shafaq News, warning that the caretaker setup was buckling under the weight of compounding crises.
The constitution required a president to be elected within 30 days of parliament's first session on December 29 -a deadline Iraq has long since blown past.
Read more: Three months of parliament paralysis: Divisions and pressure expose Iraq’s fragile system
The KDP wants its own man in the post. "We consider Fuad Hussein the most suitable candidate to lead Iraq at this critical stage," KDP MP Avesta Mam Yahya told Shafaq News, adding that the decision to enter the chamber would rest with Kurdish leadership if no broader agreement materialized. Consultations were still ongoing with no final outcome, she said.
The shiite Coordination Framework had previously deferred the prime ministerial contest until after the regional war subsides. Nouri al-Maliki was nominated in January, but that track too has stalled, leaving Iraq's political transition frozen at every level simultaneously.
