Hakim Al-Zamili, First Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, confirmed the approval of documents and CVs in selecting candidates for the post of the Presidency of the Republic.
A statement from Al-Zamili’s office stated that the latter chaired the expanded meeting to check the names of the candidates for the presidency, which is to be announced two days from now, provided that the vote will take place officially during the second session of the fifth parliamentary session on February 7 next.
He added that – during a meeting held in the parliament building in the presence of the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the Chairman of the Integrity Commission, the Vice-President of the Accountability and Justice Commission, the Senior Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior and members of the Diwaniyah Order – all 26 candidates’ files were discussed and audited, in terms of “criminal restrictions and their position on the issue.” Accountability, justice, academic degrees and their integrity.
Al-Zamili stressed the need to adopt documents, certificates, and resumes in a professional and transparent manner, and to remove any kind of political pressure that may be exerted on the relevant authorities to prevent them from performing the duties assigned to them, stressing that everyone placed their full confidence in these authorities by applying professional standards to all candidates alike. And differently from what was used in the past.
He pointed out that the House of Representatives approved all mechanisms, procedures, statements, provisions and restrictions imposed on each candidate, away from all tendencies, trends, desires, or external or internal influences.
Al-Zamili said, “All the accusations against the candidates or everything that is raised on social media does not concern us as much as we rely exclusively on final judicial decisions against all candidates.”
It is expected that the committee tasked with scrutinizing the candidates’ files will finish its work next Monday, so that the names of the candidates will be approved to compete for the position in elections to take place in Parliament.
Rivalry heats up
Expectations indicate that the competition for the presidency will be limited to the current president, Barham Salih of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and his rival, Hoshyar Zebari of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
The “Democratic” announced the candidacy of Zebari, while the “National Union” announced last week the candidacy of Saleh officially for a second term to rule Iraq.
These nominations sparked disagreements between the two Kurdish parties, who accused each other of not reaching an agreement on a single candidate, as the National Union adheres to his candidacy, considering that this position is the right of the party, accusing the Democratic Party of seeking to hijack the position away from consensus.
The National Union has maintained the position of president since 2006, while the Democratic Party’s share during the last period was one of the sovereign ministries, either finance or foreign affairs.
Since 2006, the political custom in Iraq has been for the Kurds to hold the presidency, the Shiites to be the prime minister, and the Sunnis to head the parliament.
In its first session on January 9, Parliament elected Muhammad al-Halbousi to head the Council for a second term after obtaining the confidence of 200 deputies, compared to only 14 votes for his rival, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani.
The Shiite political forces are conducting continuous dialogues for the purpose of agreeing on a personal nomination for the post of prime minister.
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