BAGHDAD: Iraq’s parliament elected Nizar Amidi as the country’s new president, it indicates an important step in the nation’s ongoing political process. So far, Amidi secured a decisive victory in the second round of voting, receiving 227 votes out of 249 cast, becoming Iraq’s sixth president since 2003.
In this regard, the newly elected president, a candidate of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), succeeds former President Abdul latif Rashid. In such a case, his election followed a competitive parliamentary process that required two rounds of voting after no candidate achieved the necessary two-thirds majority in the initial round.
In this sense, a total of 252 out of 329 members of parliament participated in the first round of voting. As per the Iraq’s constitution, a candidate must secure a two-thirds majority 220 votes in the first round to be elected president.
Meanwhile, no candidate met this threshold, the process moved to a second round, where a simple majority of half-plus-one, or at least 165 votes, is required.
The second round was contested between the two leading candidates, ultimately resulting in Amidi’s clear victory. The election session itself came after delays earlier in the year, as political disagreements between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the PUK had stalled the process.
These two major Kurdish parties traditionally compete for the presidency under Iraq’s power-sharing arrangement, which reserves the position for a Kurdish candidate.
The parliamentary session to elect the president had been postponed twice in early February due to these disputes, mentioning the challenges within Iraq’s political landscape. However, Saturday’s vote signals a breakthrough in overcoming these divisions.
