ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – President Masoud Barzani on Monday asserted that the position of Iraq’s presidency should be decided based on a consensus among all Kurdish parties, stressing that the post is not reserved for any specific party.

The Iraqi parliament is set to hold its first session on Monday, during which the newly-elected lawmakers must elect a Speaker of Parliament. Within 30 days of the first session, the legislature must also elect a president of the country.

In a statement before the parliamentary session, President Barzani emphasized that the Iraqi Presidency is a post reserved for the Kurdish component, but stressed that the mechanism for electing the president must change, and “no party should consider this position its private property.”

Since 2005, the Iraqi presidency has always been held by a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), despite the the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) consistently outperforming its rival in the both Iraqi and Kurdistan elections.

“The person nominated for the presidency does not have to be from the PUK or the KDP. They can be from another party or be neutral,” said Barzani. “The most important thing is that this person enjoys Kurdish consensus and truly represents the people of Kurdistan in assuming the presidency of the Republic of Iraq.”

Barzani proposed three mechanisms for choosing the Iraqi president: Appointment by the Kurdish parliament, collective consensus by the Kurdish parties, or a decision by Kurdish lawmakers and factions in the Iraqi parliament.

“All Kurdish parties must have the conviction that this post is the Kurdish share,” the Kurdish leader asserted.

Iraq’s presidency was allotted to the PUK in an agreement signed in 2005 between the two parties’ leaders, Barzani and Jalal Talabani, whereby Barzani would assume the Kurdistan Region presidency, while Talabani took the Iraqi presidency.

In November, KDP spokesperson Mahmoud 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.”

Iraq held parliamentary elections on November 11. The results displayed a significant victory for the KDP, which secured 27 seats and became the first Iraqi and Kurdish political party in history to surpass over one million votes. The PUK ranked as the second Kurdish party at 18 seats.

The Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections were held in October 2024, with the KDP winning 39 seats and the PUK 23. The parties have yet to reach an agreement on forming the next cabinet.

Iraq’s components have had a power-sharing arrangement since the fall of Saddam Hussein regime, whereby the Shiites get the prime minister position, the Sunnis get the speaker of parliament post, and Kurds get the Iraqi presidency.