Oct. 11 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Iraqi Parliament will hold a session this Thursday to elect the country’s new president, after several months of political paralysis as a result of the early legislative elections in October 2021, which have not yet led to the formation of a new government.
The President of the Parliament, Muhamad al Halbusi, has indicated that the session will take place on October 13 and has stressed that there will only be one item on the agenda, which is “electing the President of the Republic”, according to a statement published on the page website of the legislative body.
Thus, he has indicated that the new president will be elected “in line with the constitutional clauses” and has added that Al Halbusi has demanded that “the curricula vitae of the candidates be delivered to the parliamentarians”, after which he has ordered the session to be postponed until Thursday.
Previously, Parliament had also approved the dismissal of Ihsan Abdulyabar as acting Finance Minister, amid the deepening economic and social crisis, aggravated by the aforementioned political paralysis since last year’s elections.
In fact, Parliament was scheduled to hold this vote in February, although it was postponed on numerous occasions due to disputes arising from the elections and the blockade by pro-Iranian parties and militias.
The Iraqi Presidency has been occupied by Kurdish politicians for two decades, within the framework of a power-sharing agreement that includes that the prime minister must be a member of the Shia community and the president of Parliament, a Sunni.
Iraq has been the scene of new mobilizations in recent days, coinciding with the third anniversary of the October 2019 protests, which resulted in at least 600 deaths throughout the country due to the reaction of the Iraqi Police and pro-Iranian militias.
The protests, which led to the resignation of then-Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, were active for several months demanding an end to the system of government in place since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, an end to corruption, better basic services and job. Subsequently, the new prime minister, Mostafá al Kazemi, called early elections.
In these elections, the party led by the Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr won the victory, although it has even been unable to form a government due to the blockade of the pro-Iranian parties and militias, which has caused his bloc to withdraw from negotiations and Parliament, deepening the political crisis in Iraq.
