ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - A high-level delegation from Iraq’s ruling Shiite Coordination Framework arrived in Erbil on Monday for talks with the Kurdistan Region’s political leaders over the election of Iraq’s next president and prime minister.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani received the delegation, headed by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, at Erbil International Airport.

The delegation also includes Badr Organization chief Hadi al-Amiri, Asas Coalition leader Muhsin al-Mandalawi, and Coordination Framework Secretary-General Abbas al-Amri.

The Shiite leaders will also visit Sulaimani during their trip to the Kurdistan Region.

The visit comes after a second parliamentary session to elect an Iraqi president was postponed without yielding any results, as the Kurdistan Region's top two parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), have failed to see eye to eye on a unanimous candidate for the post.

The Iraqi presidency, traditionally reserved for Kurds, is constitutionally required to be settled by the parliament within 30 days of the new legislature's first session, with the deadline having passed in this case on January 28.

The KDP has nominated current Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, while the PUK has fielded Amedi, Iraq’s former environment minister and head of the party’s Baghdad office. The incumbent President Abdul Latif Rashid, a senior PUK member, is running independently. Lawmaker Muthanna Amin, meanwhile, is representing Kurdish opposition parties in the race.

Another aspect of the visit is to address the controversial nomination of Nouri al-Maliki for Iraq’s prime minister with the Kurdish parties, amid growing hesitation within the Shiite camp over Washington’s rejection of his candidacy.

Iraq’s ruling Shiite Coordination Framework on Saturday announced that it will keep Maliki, head of the State of Law Coalition and Iraq’s former prime minister, as its nominee for the country’s next premier, despite US President Donald Trump’s warning that Washington will no longer help Baghdad if Maliki is elected, criticizing his “insane policies and ideologies.”