ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – At least 44 candidates, including Kurds, Arabs, and Christians, are set to compete for the Iraqi presidency, with 41 of them having completed the registration process as of Sunday evening ahead of Monday's deadline, a source in the Iraqi parliament told The New Region.

Incumbent President Abdul Latif Rashid and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's (PUK) Nizar Amedi have started the registration process, The New Region has learned, but have yet to complete their application.

The Kurdistan Islamic Union's (KIU) Muthanna Amin, meanwhile, told The New Region on Sunday that he also intends on vying for the post, standing on 13 seats that the KIU and other Kurdish opposition parties have between themselves.

The parliament convened on Monday for the first time, setting off the 30-day countdown to elect a president for the country, a position traditionally reserved for Kurds.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the largest Kurdish bloc in the Iraqi parliament, has until Monday to field a candidate of its own. However, the party has yet to officially name a candidate as of the time of writing this article.

So far, the PUK has nominated Nizar Amedi, Aso Faridoon, current President Abdul Latif Rashid, and Khalid Shwani, although Rashid, a senior PUK member, has stated that he is participating as an independent candidate and not on the PUK's behalf.

Since 2005, the Iraqi presidency has always been held by a member of the PUK, despite the KDP consistently outperforming its rival in both Iraqi and Kurdistani elections.

Earlier in the week, KDP leader Masoud 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.

The Iraqi Constitution stipulates that the president must be "an Iraqi by birth, born to Iraqi parents," be over 40 years of age, "of good reputation and political experience," and be free from criminal convictions "involving moral turpitude," further asserting that the president is "the Head of the State" and represents the country's sovereignty.