ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Wednesday said that the Iraqi presidency is a Kurdish entitlement and is not restricted to any one Kurdish party, coming as speculation has emerged that Sunni blocs may seek to put forward a candidate for the position.

"We stress that this post is an entitlement of Kurds, but an agreement needs to be reached among Kurds. Up until now, the post has not been settled in favor of any party," the premier told reporters after laying the foundation for the second phase of a factory set to produce electrical products in Erbil.

Since 2005, the presidency has been reserved for a Kurdish official under the federal system's unwritten norms, with Shiites, who comprise a majority of the country's population, holding the spot of Iraqi prime minister and Sunnis receiving the position of parliamentary speaker. 

Barzani's comments come in response to repeated remarks by prominent Sunni politician Mohammed al-Halbousi suggesting that his bloc may endeavor to take the post following Iraq's recent parliamentary elections.

Unlike other multi-ethnic and confessional countries such as Lebanon, these provisions are not mandated by the constitution, instead serving as a tacit agreement seeking to ensure representation for each component.

The Iraqi presidency has always been held by a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) since this juncture, with Mahmoud Mohammed, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), asserting on Sunday that this stems from the two main Kurdish parties' leaders, President Masoud Barzani of the KDP and Jalal Talabani of the PUK, whereby Barzani would assume the Region’s presidency, while Talabani took the Iraqi presidency.

Mohammed said that although the agreement was extended for another parliamentary term after Talabani and Barzani’s tenures had ended, “that does not mean the post is reserved for the PUK. The post is for Kurds, and the Kurdish camp needs to agree on this candidate.”

In his remarks on Wednesday, Prime Minister Barzani also hailed news that US Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Michael Rigas is set to inaugurate the new US Consulate General in Erbil during an upcoming Middle East tour.

The top official will visit Turkey, Iraq, the Kurdistan Region, and Israel between November 27 and December 5, the US State Department announced in a press release.

The new facility, set to be the largest US consulate in the world, is "a major indicator… of the strong relations between the United States and the Kurdistan Region," the premier said.

The Washington-based architecture firm Page designed the facility, describing it as expressing the "United States’ democratic values within Iraq’s cultural context, symbolizing the global partners’ relationship and shared aspirations."

The US Consulate General officially opened in 2011, upgrading Washington's diplomatic presence in the Kurdistan Region from a Regional Construction Team that had been based in the Kurdish capital since 2007.