Barzani warns presidential vote should not proceed without progress on PM position

BAGHDAD — Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani warned Friday that proceeding with Saturday’s presidential election session without resolving the prime ministerial deadlock in parallel is unacceptable, casting doubt over whether the session will go ahead as planned.

“The persistence of certain factions within the Coordination Framework in pushing forward with the presidential election, while others deliberately stall the selection of a prime minister, is unacceptable,” Barzani wrote on X. “We stress that no constitutional entitlement will move forward unless this matter is resolved in parallel, guaranteeing the full presence and active participation of all parties in the upcoming parliamentary session.”

The presidency, reserved for a Kurdish candidate under Iraq’s post-2003 power-sharing system, has been disputed between the KDP and the PUK — the PUK backing Nizar Amedi and the KDP backing Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein. Iraq’s parliament was scheduled to hold a session Saturday to elect a president, a prerequisite for naming a prime minister-designate and forming a government more than four months after November’s elections.

The Coordination Framework has pushed to move forward with the presidential vote while disagreements over the prime minister persist. It nominated former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in January, a move that drew U.S. opposition, with President Trump warning Washington could halt support for Iraq if Maliki returned to power. A State of Law Coalition official also claimed this week that the U.S. chargé d’affaires conveyed opposition to renewing Sudani’s term, leaving the alliance without a clear American-approved candidate.