KDP and PUK need to agree on a presidential candidate: Shiite Coordination Framework

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Shiite Coordination Framework (SCF) on Monday called on the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to agree on a candidate for Iraq’s next president. 

“The elected president nominates the next Iraq’s prime minister; that is why the KDP and PUK must agree on a candidate for the presidency,” SCF parliament member Mahdi Taqi Amirly told local media on Monday.

“It’s impossible for the parliament to meet before having the KDP and PUK agreed on a presidential candidate,” he added. 

The Shiite parties of the SCF are set to meet after Eid al-Adha sometime later this week or early next week to select a candidate for Iraq’s next prime minister. 

Following the mass resignation of the Sadrists from the Iraqi parliament, the SCF has intensified its effort to form a new government. 

However, the Shiite political parties in the SCF have not yet agreed on how to distribute the cabinet’s positions, including the premiership.

Furthermore, the KDP and PUK are both advocating separate presidential candidates, traditionally reserved for a Kurd, and have failed to agree on a single candidate. 

On Sunday, the head of the KDP elections bureau, Khasraw Goran, told Kurdistan 24 that the KDP is still insisting on its candidate, Rebar Ahmad, for the presidency.

He also said that the KDP would participate in a government that respects the constitution and believes in the principles of consensus and true partnership.