The race over the presidential post in Iraq led on Sunday to a dispute in the Kurdish house, placing the two largest parties on opposite sides.
For more than 15 years, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan were the touchstones in the Iraqi political balances.
However, conflict arose Sunday between them after the KDP, headed by Masoud Barazani, rejected the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s nomination of Barham Salih for the presidential post and instead chose to back the candidature of Fuad Hussein, a member of the Kurdistan Region Presidential Council.
Hussein is not a member of the KDP party.
And what worsened the row between the two Kurdish parties was the presence of two high-ranking delegations in Baghdad, the first headed by Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani and the second headed by PUK candidate Salih.
Accordingly, the Presidential election scheduled to take place in Iraq on 25 September has been postponed.
A statement issued by Parliament said Tuesday’s session would instead discuss the situation in Basra and the formation of permanent committees in parliament.
Since July, the oil-rich region of Basra has witnessed many protests, leading to the death of dozens.
In addition to the PUK’s presidential candidate Barham Salih and the PDK’s candidate Fuad Hussein, there are six candidates, including a woman, running for the post.
According to the constitution, the deadline to elect a president is Oct. 02.
Separately, Baghdad was suffering from a similar split between the two main Shiite blocs: the Reform and Reconstruction bloc and al-Bina (Construction) bloc.
On Sunday, Barzani met with head of Sairoon Coalition Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf following meetings held last Saturday with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and leader of the Fata
h alliance Hadi al-Ameri and head of the Hikma Front Ammar Hakim.
