Iraqi lawmakers failed again on Saturday to elect a new president due to the lack of a quorum in parliament, keeping the country mired in political paralysis.
Parliament had issued a final list of 40 candidates for the post, a largely ceremonial role that by convention is reserved for a member of Iraq’s Kurdish minority.
The contest pits Barham Saleh, the incumbent and a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), against Rebar Ahmed of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the PUK’s rival.
But the lack of a quorum – set at two-thirds of the house’s 329 members – held up the vote for the second time since February, deepening war-scarred Iraq’s political uncertainty.
Only 202 lawmakers showed up for the latest vote, a parliamentary official told AFP on condition of anonymity, and a new session had to be scheduled for Wednesday.
Following the session, parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi said the “lack of a quorum forces us to continue holding sessions until it is achieved,” the state-owned Iraqi News Agency reported.
The postponement exacerbates Iraq’s political problems because it is the task of the president to formally name a prime minister, who must be backed by an absolute majority in parliament.
On February 13, Iraq’s supreme court ruled out a presidential bid by KDP-backed veteran politician Hoshyar Zebari, after a complaint filed against him over years-old, untried corruption charges.
Iraqi politics was thrown into turmoil following October 2021’s general election, which was marred by record low turnout, post-vote threats and violence, and a months-long delay before the final results were confirmed. Intense negotiations among political factions have since failed to forge a majority in support of a new prime minister to succeed Mustafa al-Kadhemi.
Iraqi security forces stand guard near Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone on October 31, 2021, after three rockets hit a neighborhood near where the US embassy is located. The so far unclaimed attack, the first to target the Green Zone since two rockets were fired on July 29, comes as authorities conduct a recount of votes cast in an October 10 parliamentary election. Photo: VCG
