ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq’s ruling Shiite Coordination Framework is set to meet on Wednesday to discuss the stalemate regarding the election of Iraq’s next president after a visit to the Kurdistan Region to meet Kurdish parties who have been at loggerheads over the post.

The meeting aims to “open a practical path to resolving the issue of the presidency, which has remained unresolved for over a month due to disagreements within the Kurdish political establishment,” a framework source told the state al-Sabah newspaper.

The meeting follows a round of talks held in the Kurdistan Region on Monday between a high-level Coordination Framework delegation headed by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani and the Kurdistan Region’s political leaders over the election of Iraq’s next president and prime minister.

The delegation first arrived in Erbil and was received by the Region’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani. They met with President Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), before heading to Sulaimani for talks with Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Bafel Talabani.

The visits came 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 KDP and PUK, have failed to agree on a unanimous candidate for the post.

Ali Saber al-Kinani, an Iraqi lawmaker, told the state newspaper that today’s meeting of the Shiite parties “will discuss the results of the recent visit and the proposals put forward in the region, with an internal effort to set a two-day deadline for resolving the presidential issue.”

Wafa Mohammed, a KDP lawmaker, revealed the existence of proposals that include the possibility of one of the candidates voluntarily withdrawing from the presidential race in exchange for other positions within the government. 

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 Nizar 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.

According to Kinani, the meeting will also discuss the controversial nomination of Nouri al-Maliki for Iraq’s prime minister, amid growing hesitation within the Shiite camp over Washington’s rejection of his candidacy.

“The Coordination Framework is still committed to nominating Nouri al-Maliki," he said, noting that the meeting outcome may change depending on the result of ongoing discussions.

In a televised interview on Tuesday, Maliki stressed that he would withdraw his candidacy for prime minister "if the framework decides so."