Khaberni - The Iraqi News Agency "INA" reported that the House of Representatives has postponed its meeting planned for Sunday to elect the President of the Republic, due to the lack of the required quorum to hold the session.
The agency quoted a statement from the Media Department of the House of Representatives, stating that the Council "decided to postpone its session," adding that the Presidency of the Council held a meeting today with the heads of the parliamentary blocks to discuss the decision of electing the President of the Republic and confirming the final date for the election.
The Media Department emphasized the importance of adhering to the "constitutional timelines".
Sarwa Abdul Wahid, the head of the New Generation parliamentary bloc, said that today's session was postponed "due to the lack of quorum", as the constitution requires the presence of at least two-thirds of the members of the House of Representatives, which is no less than 220 out of 329 deputies.
On the evening of last Friday, the Iraqi House of Representatives announced today's Sunday as the date for the election of the president of the country, after postponing a previous session scheduled for Tuesday, to allow "more time for understanding and agreement" between the "Kurdistan Democratic Party" and the "Patriotic Union of Kurdistan", according to the Council's president Mohamed al-Halbousi.
The session to elect the President of the Republic is a crucial milestone among the obligations following the 2025 elections, as the constitution stipulates that the president is to be elected by a two-thirds majority of the members of the House of Representatives, with the position being traditionally allocated to the Kurds, amidst the current competition between the Democratic Party candidate Fuad Hussein and the Patriotic Union candidate Nizar Amidi, making the Kurdish-Kurdish consensus a pivotal factor in resolving the session within the constitutional deadlines.
Moreover, Abbas Radi, the General Secretary of the Coordination Framework, confirmed today, Sunday, that a high-level delegation will head tomorrow, Monday, to the Kurdish region to meet the Kurdish leadership in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah," stating that the delegation will include the Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and leaders Hadi al-Amiri and Muhsen al-Mandalawi.
He added in a statement conveyed by the Iraqi News Agency, that "the visit is based on the decision of the Coordination Framework in its last meeting to foster understanding between the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan to decide on the presidency through aligning viewpoints according to the framework's urgent need to adhere to the constitutional timelines.
Paragraph "b" of Article "72" of the Iraqi Constitution stipulates that the President of the Republic shall continue to perform his duties until after the conclusion of the new House of Representatives election and its meeting, and a new president shall be elected for the republic within thirty days from the date of the first meeting of the council, which took place on December 29th last year.
While paragraph "a" of Article "76" states that the President of the Republic shall assign the candidate of the parliamentary block with the highest number of members to form the cabinet, within fifteen days from the date of electing the President of the Republic.
In this regard, the Supreme Judicial Council in Iraq emphasized the importance of adhering to the constitutional timelines in completing the procedures for appointing the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, and rejecting any external interference in the matter.
