Kurdistan
President Masoud Barzani (right) in a meeting with Bafel Talabani, leader of the PUK in Pirmam, Erbil, in late September 2025. Photo: Barzani Headquarters
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Democratic Party's (KDP) President Masoud Barzani and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Bafel Talabani are set to hold a high-level meeting on Wednesday in Erbil’s Pirmam to decide on Iraq’s contested presidency.
Talabani will be accompanied by Qubad Talabani, a senior PUK figure and deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan Region. The meeting follows talks held last week between the two leaders and is expected to focus specifically on reaching a decision over the presidential post, a senior KDP official told Rudaw.
Nineteen candidates - Kurdish and Arab - have been approved to run for the position. However, the presidency is widely expected to go to either the KDP, the PUK, or a consensus candidate backed by both parties. Since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the post has largely been held by the PUK.
The Iraqi parliament has indefinitely postponed a scheduled session to elect a new president. A session planned for Sunday was delayed, according to state media, with no new date announced.
Iraq held parliamentary elections in early November. Final results were announced later that month and ratified by the Federal Supreme Court in mid-December. Under Iraq’s informal power-sharing system, the speakership is allocated to Sunni Arabs, the premiership to Shiite parties, and the presidency to the Kurds.
The new parliament convened on December 29 to elect its speaker and two deputies. According to the constitution, a president must be elected within 30 days of the first parliamentary session. Once sworn in, the president has 15 days to nominate the candidate of the largest parliamentary bloc to form a government.
Among the 19 approved contenders, the most prominent candidates are PUK nominee Nizar Amedi and KDP candidate Fuad Hussein, who currently serves as Iraq’s foreign minister.
Since 2005, a political understanding between the KDP and PUK has allocated the presidency to the PUK. However, the KDP now argues that the post belongs to the Kurdish people as a whole rather than to any single party, calling for a consensus candidate endorsed by all Kurdish factions.
“The KDP believes the presidency is no longer as active as it once was and needs to be revitalized to address constitutional challenges,” a senior KDP figure told Rudaw. “Therefore, the candidate should not be selected by one party alone.”
A KDP lawmaker said Shiite parties are no longer waiting for Kurdish consensus before proceeding.
“They will attend the next parliamentary session, secure the legal quorum, and vote for a candidate regardless of whether the Kurds reach an agreement,” Sherwa Dubardani told Rudaw.
Meanwhile, Harem Kamal Agha, a PUK leadership member and head of the party’s parliamentary bloc, said Speaker of Parliament Haibat al-Halbousi has promised to hold a presidential vote on Thursday if the KDP and PUK agree on a single nominee during Wednesday’s meeting.
Last month, 52 lawmakers formally urged parliament’s leadership to pressure the two Kurdish parties to resolve their dispute and present a unified candidate.
Fuad Hussein has previously stated that the KDP is willing to relinquish its federal posts to the PUK in exchange for securing the presidency, should an agreement be reached.
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