Iraqi parliament fails to elect president, session postponed

The legislature was supposed to vote on a new president for the country at 11am. With the strongest candidates being the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) Reber Ahmed, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s (PUK) Barham Salih – who currently serves the post.

Hours after its originally scheduled timing, the Iraqi parliament decided to postpone the presidential election to Wednesday, after the Save the Homeland Alliance – consisting of the KDP, the Sadrist Movement, and the Sunni Sovereignty Alliance – failed to secure the 220 MPs needed to meet the legal quorum.

The session was attended by 202 MPs, according to the legislature’s media office, which falls short of the two-thirds minimum needed to carry out the session.

The Coordination Framework had previously announced that they would boycott the session, as they oppose the Save the Homeland Alliance’s attempt to form a national majority government, persisting in forming a consensus government.

The Coordination Framework was joined by MPs from the PUK, the al-Azm Alliance, the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), the Kurdistan Justice Party (KJP), and a number of independent MPs in boycotting the session.

The State of Law Coalition, a main component of the Coordination Framework, reported through their media outlets that they had presented 126 signatures to the presidency of the parliament from MPs that had decided to boycott the meeting.

After failing to elect a president, the parliament decided to vote on parliamentary committees and an emergency food support package.

The Iraqi parliament has postponed its regular session to be held on Monday, and the presidential election to be carried out on Wednesday.