Iraqi blocs pledge attendance as presidential vote looms

Shafaq News- Baghdad

The National State Forces Alliance and the Taqaddum Party pledged full attendance at Saturday's parliamentary session to elect a president, raising hopes the five-month deadlock blocking government formation could finally break.

"Our attendance is not a formality, it is a clear national position expressing a genuine will to build the state," the State Forces Alliance, led by Ammar al-Hakim, said in a statement. Taqaddum, led by Mohammed al-Halbousi, confirmed its full parliamentary bloc would attend.

Parliament confirmed the presidential election as the sole agenda item. The Shiite Coordination Framework has signaled it intends to push the vote through regardless of whether Kurdish parties reach an internal consensus, while the prime ministerial nomination will be deferred, State Forces Alliance MP Jawad Rahim al-Saedi told Shafaq News.

The post has been paralyzed for months by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) standoff over which party fields the candidate. By convention, the presidency goes to a Kurd, the premiership to a Shiite, and the speakership to a Sunni Arab. The KDP, after sweeping Kurdistan's last two elections, has challenged the PUK's traditional hold on the post, with KDP leader Masoud Barzani proposing the candidate be chosen collectively by all Kurdish parties.

The deadlock has deepened under a regional war, strikes on Iraqi territory, halted oil exports, and US pressure against the Coordination Framework's nomination of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki -whom Trump warned in January would cost Iraq American support if returned to power.

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