The election of the Iraqi president by the deputies scheduled for Wednesday could not take place for the third time in less than two months because the quorum was not reached, as in the first two attempts, we learned to Parliament.
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“The Assembly adjourned until further notice“, indicated the press service of the Parliament. No new date for a next attempt has been disclosed, but the Federal Court, Iraq’s highest court, has given lawmakers until April 6 to give the country a head of state. This deadline passed, the Constitution is silent on the next step. As in the first two attempts – on February 7 and March 26 – it was in fact the boycott of a Shiite coalition that again seized up the machine on Wednesday. A parliamentary source told AFP that only 178 MPs out of 329 were present at Wednesday’s session, depriving the Assembly of the two-thirds quorum required to organize the vote.
“consensus government”
The Shia pro-Iran Coalition of the Coordination Framework, which notably includes the formation of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and the pro-Iran bloc of the Alliance of Conquest, has once again observed the policy of the empty chair. She intends to block her great rival, the Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr. Big winner of the October 2021 legislative elections, Moqtada Sadr has shaped a coalition with Sunni parties and the Kurdish PDK. He wants to form a governmentmajorityaround his cousin and brother-in-law, Jaafar al-Sadr, whom he intends to appoint prime minister.
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Unbearable for the Coordination Framework, which wants to continue the Iraqi tradition of “consensus governmentbringing together all the Shia parties. However, parliamentarians must first elect the head of state so that he in turn appoints the head of government. Among the 40 candidates vying for the presidency, two stand out: the outgoing Barham Saleh, president of Iraq since 2018 and from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (UPK), and Rebar Ahmed of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (PDK ). The winning candidate must obtain at least two-thirds of the votes. The presidency, a largely ceremonial post, traditionally goes to a Kurd.