ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The failure of the Kurdish parties to decide Iraq’s next president represents a “clear violation” of constitutional deadlines and significantly weakens Iraq, with a caretaker government in place, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani’s coalition said on Thursday. 

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have yet to agree on a unanimous candidate for the Iraqi presidency – a position traditionally reserved for Kurds under an informal power-sharing agreement in Iraq.

“The continued delay in electing the President of the Republic constitutes a clear violation of the constitutional timelines,” the Sudani-led Reconstruction and Development Coalition said in a statement, calling on the parliament speaker to expedite a session to elect the president “during the coming week.” 

It further called on Kurdish parties to agree on a candidate before the session is held, “in order to move forward with completing the rest of the constitutional requirements.”

According to constitutional timelines, the Iraqi president was required to be elected by the parliament within 30 days of the new legislature’s first session. Thursday marks a month since that deadline passed. 

“The continued existence of a government with limited powers constitutes a direct harm to our people and the work of the state and its institutions,” the coalition stressed. 

Earlier in February, Parliament Speaker Haibat al-Halbousi sent a letter to the country’s chief justice, calling for assistance regarding the issue of electing the next president. 

This time, the KDP has fielded Iraq’s current Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, while the PUK has nominated Nizar Amedi, Iraq’s former environment minister and the head of the party’s Baghdad office.

KDP officials have repeatedly stressed that the presidency, which has been held by the PUK since 2005, does not belong to a single party.