5 Kurdish parties fail to nominate Presidential candidate

Erbil (IraqiNews.com) Five Kurdish parties met in Kurdistan on Monday, at the headquarters of the political bureau of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in the city of Sulaimaniyah, to discuss the candidate for president post in the next parliamentary session on Wednesday.

Member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Saadi al-Beera said in a press conference after the meeting that “The Kurdish parties [Kurdistani Democratic Party, Taghyeer Movement, Islamic Union and the Islamic Association] as well as the Patriotic Union discussed the issue of candidacy for the office of President of the Republic of Iraq, and agreed that the post is a merit for the Kurds and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in particular.”

He added “We are in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) working to have one candidate for the post of President of the Republic instead of the two candidates of the PUK, namely Fuad Masum, and Barham Salih.”

For his part, Mohammad Hakim representative of the Islamic Association assured that “Kurdish parties met today in order to nominate a candidate for the presidency of the Republic of Iraq during the next parliamentary session.”He said the “President of the Republic is a merit for the Kurds and we all work united in support of the candidate of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) for the post of President of the Republic.”earlier, an informed source reported that “103 candidates have submitted their files to the Parliament to run for the President post.”