Deputy KDP head meets with Adil Abdul-Mahdi, Iraqi PM contender, in Baghdad

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The deputy leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Nechirvan Barzani, on Tuesday met with one of the top candidates for the Iraqi premiership, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, to discuss the formation of a government as the constitutional deadline approaches.

On Monday, Barzani arrived in Baghdad at the head of a KDP delegation to lobby for support from major party leaders for the party’s presidential candidate, Fuad Hussein, who accompanied Barzani to the gathering with Abdul-Mahdi.

The KDP delegation and Abdul-Mahdi discussed the post of Iraqi presidency, a traditionally Kurdish-held post, for which there are multiple candidates.

The top two nominees, Fuad Hussein of the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s (PUK) Barham Salih, have been looking to secure votes in Baghdad as the two parties have yet to agree on a single candidate.

The constitutional deadline for the presidency post is Oct. 2, and parliament is set to meet and settle the issue and vote after lawmakers failed to reach quorum in their Monday session.

Iraq’s new president is then given 15 days to nominate a prime minister put forward by the largest bloc in parliament.

The prime minister, in turn, will have another 30 days to form his cabinet with ministers then referred back to parliament for individual approval. If the effort is unsuccessful, the president has yet another 15 days to nominate another prime minister and repeat the process of forming a cabinet.

An economist and veteran politician, Abdul-Mahdi is believed to be a strong contender for the premiership.

According to a recent letter, the prime minister of the caretaker government, Haider al-Abadi, declared his support for Abdul-Mahdi in succeeding him on the condition that the nation’s highest-ranking Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, also back the candidate.

Editing by Nadia Riva