Iraq’s parliament voted to elect Nizar Amidi as president five months after a parliamentary election that didn’t produce a bloc with a decisive majority.
Amidi is a political official with one of the country’s two main Kurdish parties, and he beat out a roster of candidates that included Iraq’s current Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein, who was the pick of the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party.
His election comes as Iraq is reeling from the fallout of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Iraq got caught in the middle of the war when Iran-backed militias launched an attack on U.S. bases and diplomatic facilities, as well as critical energy infrastructure.
At the same time, the U.S. and Israel carried out airstrikes targeting the militias, some of which killed members of the Iraqi military.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz following the war also largely halted oil exports that Iraq’s economy depends on.
By convention, Iraq’s president is always Kurdish, while the more powerful prime minister is Shiite and the parliamentary speaker is Sunni.
The vote took place more than two months past the constitutional deadline that requires a president to be elected within 30 days after the first session held by a newly elected parliament.
Amidi has served as an aide to two other presidents, Jalal Talabani and Fouad Massoum.
While no candidate secured the required two-thirds majority in the first round of voting on Saturday, Amidi was far ahead of the other candidates, securing 208 votes in the first round.
The second candidate, Muthuanna Amin Nader, a parliamentarian from the Kurdistan Islamic Union bloc, received 17 votes.
The vote was determined in the second round of voting, where Amin secured 227 votes, and Nader received 15.
According to the Iraqi constitution, the president has 15 days to task the nominee of the largest parliamentary bloc with forming a government and assuming the position of prime minister.
The dominant bloc, the Shiite Coordination Framework, a coalition of Iran-allied parties, announced in January that it would nominate former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, despite opposition from Washington.
Now the bloc will have to decide whether to go with the nomination of al-Maliki or select another candidate.
Current Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani had been al-Maliki’s main rival for the nomination before stepping aside to clear the path for him.
Related content:
