Barham Saleh won Barzani’s blessing for his Iraq presidency nomination
President of the Kurdistan region in Iraq, Massoud Barzani
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Kurdish politician Barham Saleh has obtained approval from the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Masud Barzani, to be the Kurdistan Region’s nominee for the presidency of Iraq.
A KDP source told Baghdad Today that Saleh, a former prime minister of Kurdistan, who was reinstated on Wednesday as a member of the region’s second ruling party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, had met with Barzani twice away from media coverage and won the latter’s approval of his nomination for Iraq’s Presidency.
The source said the KDP is expected to officially declare its support for Saleh within the next few days.
The Iraqi parliament is supposed to approve the Kurds’ nominee for Iraq’s presidency on September 25th.
Based on a political agreement adopted since the ouster of late leader Saddam Hussein, Kurds assume Iraq’s presidency, Sunnis are entitled to parliament speaker, and Shias hold the prime minister’s office.
Iraq parliament elections, the first since the defeat of Islamic State militants, were held last May amid judicial challenges that prompted a recount of votes. The parliament elected Mohamed al-Halbousi, a former governor of Anbar, as its new speaker earlier this week.