Julian Bechocha (RUDAW) reports:
Shiite cleric and head of Iraq's National Wisdom Movement Ammar al-Hakim on Sunday called on the two top Kurdish parties to accelerate efforts in agreeing on a candidate for Iraq's presidency with the country mired in political deadlock.
Hakim stated that the Iraqi presidency post "is greater than being a merit for one of the components of the country" and asked the Kurdistan Region's parties "to speed up the decision of the candidate for the presidency and to look at this national entitlement with great responsibility" in a sermon following Eid al-Adha's prayer.
The Kurdish political giants – the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) – have had disagreements over a variety of issues in recent months, and their race over Iraq's presidential position further escalated the tensions.
For those keeping track, that's the second nudge in eight days. Why the nudging? Clearing the Framework has decided upon whom they're going to name prime minister designate. For that to happen, a president needs to be decided upon because it is the duty of the president to announce the prime minister-designate.
If the Coordination Framework did not have someone in mind right now, they would be fine with the Kurds continuing to argue over who should be president.
For about eight months, Iraq has been at an impasse due to sharp disagreements over the formation of the government, between the Coordination Framework and the Sadrist bloc, which came first in the October vote, with 73 out of 329 MPs, but withdrew from parliament after it was unable to form a government.
The "Baghdad Today" news website quoted what it described as a "responsible source in the Coordination Framework" as saying that during its recent meetings, the Shia alliance "reached agreement on five personalities, with consultations expected to lead to agreement in a second phase on one of them assuming the premiership."
It added, "These personalities are (the current prime minister) Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Nuri al-Maliki, Haider Al-abadi (the prime minister between 2014 and 2018), Hadi al-Amiri, the former minister of transport and communications and Mummad Shiaa al-Sudani."
"The official agreement on the name of the candidate will be announced after the Eid holidays (next week) and the resolution of the presidential election issue."
The president of the republic, who is elected by the parliament, tasks the personality backed by the largest number of MPs to form the government.