Iraqi Parliament announces 25 candidates for presidential elections
January 31, 2022, 5:25 pm

Iraqi Parliament announces 25 candidates for presidential elections

Iraq-Victory arch/Pixabay

The Xinhua reported that the Iraqi Council of Representatives (Parliament) announced on Monday the names of 25 candidates for the presidential election scheduled for Feb. 7.

According to a statement by the parliament, the candidates include incumbent president Barham Salih, who is running for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, former Foreign Minister and Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who is running for the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and Rizgar Mohammed Amin, former Chief Judge of the Iraqi Special Tribunal that prosecuted former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

The Xinhua said that the list also includes names of non-Kurdish candidates, unlike the power-sharing system that prevailed in Iraq after 2003 stipulating that the presidency should be reserved for the Kurds, the speaker for the Sunnis, and the prime minister for the Shiites.

It mentioned that on Jan. 27, the Iraqi parliament decided to hold a new session on Feb. 7 to elect the country's president.

Iraqis waving with Iraq's flag/Shutterstock

According to the Iraqi constitution, lawmakers should elect a new Iraqi president from the candidates by a two-thirds majority of its members, and the president will be limited to serve two four-year terms.

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Once elected, the new president will ask the largest parliamentary alliance to name a prime minister-designate to form a government within 30 days.

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It should be noted that on Oct. 10, 2021, Iraq held the fifth parliamentary election with Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr becoming the biggest winner with 73 out of 329 seats.

Source: xinhua

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Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.