The new head of state is the 78-year-old Kurdish Abdel Latif Rashid, who is ahead of his rival (and outgoing) Bahram Salih by more than 160 votes to 99. His first decision was to entrust the task of forming the new government to Mohammed Shia. al-Sudani, 52, a member of the pro-Tehran Shiite faction. Yesterday’s vote was marked by the rocket attack on the Green Zone.
Baghdad () – A year after the general elections, the Iraqi parliament managed to elect a new president, the 78-year-old Kurdish Abdel Latif Rashid, who replaces his predecessor Barham Salih. The appointment was the result of two rounds of voting in the Chamber, in which he obtained more than 160 preferences compared to Salih’s 99. Yesterday’s vote is the first step in unblocking the political and institutional stalemate that has paralyzed and bloodied the country for more than a year, and the new head of state’s first act of government was to entrust the Shiite Mohammed Shia al-Sudani with the task to form the new government.
In Iraq, the role of the head of state is largely ceremonial and lacks real political powers, but the election is nonetheless an essential step in putting the institutional machinery back in motion. Rashid was Minister of Water Resources from 2003 to 2010; behind him he has studies in British institutions and has been able to prevail in the challenge against the outgoing head of state, who was competing for a second term.
The struggle between Rashid and Salih for the presidency also reflects the confrontation within the Kurdish world, which predominates in northern Iraq, where it enjoys wide autonomy and whose center is Erbil. The two major Kurdish parties appeared divided in the elections: the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) supported Rashid after withdrawing its candidate, while the rival faction of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) opted for a second term for Salih . The two groups fought a bitter civil war in the 1990s; It is feared that the dispute over the position of president could trigger a new and bloody armed conflict between the parties, which in recent months have not been able to find a common synthesis regarding the candidate.
On the other hand, Al-Sudani, 52, belongs to the Coordination Framework, a pro-Iranian alliance that today represents the majority bloc in Parliament after the withdrawal of the Sadrist deputies last August. The Prime Minister in charge has previously covered the functions of Minister of Human Rights and Minister of Labor and Social Affairs; he now has 30 days to form the new executive and appear in Parliament to obtain the vote of confidence from the assembly.
Yesterday’s vote was also marked by the attack of at least nine missiles against the Green Zone, the armored zone of Baghdad where diplomatic and institutional representations are based. Medical sources report that at least 10 people, including members of the Security Forces, were injured in the attack.
In the background is the figure of the winner of the October 2021 elections, the populist Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr, who in recent months has failed to create a majority bloc capable of forming a government. In August he imposed the block resignation of his 73 deputies, declaring his intention to leave politics. The decision triggered a protest by supporters, who took to the streets to demonstrate, and an urban guerrilla that spread from the capital to Basra, involving rival Shiite factions close to Tehran and leaving several victims. Now everyone is waiting to know the next moves, while basic skepticism about the future continues to prevail in the population: few believe that yesterday’s vote really means an essential change in the country and helps to overcome the crisis.
