After months of political deadlock, the Iraqi parliament will convene on Thursday to “elect the President of the Republic,” according to a news statement from speaker Mohammed al-office Halbussi’s on Tuesday.
Halbussi’s office said that the election of the President of the Republic will be the only item on the agenda of Thursday’s parliamentary session, which will take place more than a year after the most recent general election in Iraq.
Iraqis last cast ballots in an election on October 10, 2021, which was brought about by a wave of widespread protests over systemic corruption, high unemployment, and deteriorating infrastructure.
The UN mission had warned that “Iraq is running out of time” and encouraged political forces to break the impasse that was strangling the oil-rich nation before Tuesday’s unexpected declaration.
After the election last year, the nation has failed to elect a new administration, keeping caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi in control.
Rival Shia Muslim parliamentary groups have been striving for power and the authority to choose a new leader and administration.
Both sides have established protest camps as a result of the deadlock, which has occasionally led to fatal street fighting in Baghdad.
Barham Saleh, the current president, has called for “new, early elections in conformity with a national consensus” on August 30. He said that these may offer “an escape from the suffocating situation.”
The somewhat ceremonial position of president of Iraq has always been held by a Kurd.
