ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Leaders from Iraq’s State Administration Coalition are set to meet on Sunday to discuss issues relating to the election of the country’s next president and prime minister, a source told The New Region.

Iraq’s government formation process is facing a political deadlock with the Kurdistan Region's top parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), failing to agree on a unanimous candidate for Iraq’s presidency, and growing hesitation within the Shiite camp regarding the nomination of Nouri al-Maliki for the role of prime minister following Washington’s veto.

“The State Administration Coalition meeting will address the issue of the prime minister and president candidates and completing constitutional obligations as soon as possible,” an informed source told The New Region on Saturday.

The meeting on Sunday will be chaired by incumbent Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, and attended by other top figures including Kurdistan Region President and KDP deputy leader Nechirvan Barzani, PUK leader Bafel Talabani, and other party leaders, according to the source.

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.

Iraq’s ruling Shiite Coordination Framework last week 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.”