BAGHDAD —
Iraqi lawmakers failed again on
Saturday to elect a new president for the country due to a lack of quorum in parliament,
keeping the country mired in political paralysis.
اضافة اعلان
Parliament had issued a final list of 40 candidates
for the post, a largely ceremonial role that by convention is reserved for a
member of Iraq’s Kurdish minority.
The contest pits Barham Saleh, the incumbent and
member of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (puk), against Rebar Ahmed of the
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the PUK’s rival.
But a lack of a quorum — set at two-thirds of the
house’s 329 members — held up the vote for the second time since February,
deepening war-scarred Iraq’s political uncertainty.
Only 202
lawmakers showed up for the latest vote, a parliamentary official told AFP on
condition of anonymity, and a new session had to be scheduled for Wednesday.
The postponement exacerbates Iraq’s political
problems because it is the task of the president to formally name a prime
minister, who must be backed by an absolute majority in parliament.
On February 13, Iraq’s supreme court ruled out a
presidential bid by KDP-backed veteran politician
Hoshyar Zebari, after a
complaint filed against him over years-old, untried corruption charges.
Iraqi politics were thrown into turmoil following
last October’s general election, which was marred by record-low turnout,
post-vote threats and violence, and a months-long delay until the final results
were confirmed.
Sharp divisions
Intense negotiations among
political groups have since failed to form a majority parliamentary coalition
to agree on a new prime minister to succeed
Mustafa Al-Kadhemi.
The largest political bloc, led by firebrand Shiite
cleric
Moqtada Sadr, had backed Zebari for the presidency and has now thrown
its weight behind Ahmed.
A first vote in parliament on February 7 failed to
materialize as it was widely boycotted amid the Zebari legal wrangle.
Saturday’s failed session underscored the sharp
divide in Iraqi politics between Sadr, the general election’s big winner, and
the powerful Coordination Framework, which had called for a boycott.
The Coordination Framework includes the pro-Iran
Fatah Alliance — the political arm of the Shiite-led former paramilitary group
Hashed Al-Shaabi.
With the support
of
Sunni and Kurdish parties, Sadr wants the post of prime minister to go to
his cousin Jaafar Sadr, Iraq’s ambassador to Britain, once the question of the
four-year presidency has been settled.
Ahead of Saturday’s debacle, political analyst Ihsan
Al-Shammari had said that, even if the vote had gone ahead as planned, the
presidency would “not be decided from the first round”.
The candidate who
wins the largest number of votes must secure a two-thirds majority in the
second round of votes in parliament to win the presidency.
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