ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq's ruling Shiite Coordination Framework held a meeting on Wednesday night in which they called on political actors in the Kurdistan Region to heed their advice in reaching consensus on a candidate for the Iraqi presidency, urging their members to vote freely for the proposed candidates should the deadlock fail to be broken.

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.

In Wednesday's meeting, the Framework "stressed the importance of the Kurdistan Region giving due consideration to the proposals presented by the Coordination Framework delegation during its recent visit to the region, which would contribute to expediting consensus and ending the current deadlock," according to a statement from the Shiite umbrella group.

"In this context, the Coordination Framework called on its members to exercise their freedom in their choices should a single candidate for the presidency not be agreed upon, emphasizing that the continued paralysis of state institutions is incompatible with the magnitude of the political, economic, and security challenges facing the country," the statement continued.

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.