Iraq parliament elects Kurdish leader Nizar Amidi as president after months of deadlock

Iraq’s parliament on Saturday elected Nizar Amidi , a senior leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) , as president after months of political deadlock following inconclusive elections and delayed coalition-building talks.

Amidi secured victory in a second-round parliamentary vote , winning 227 votes , while Kurdistan Islamic Union candidate Muthanna Amin Nader received 15 votes. In the first round, no candidate achieved the required two-thirds majority , though Amidi led with 208 votes.

His main rival included Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein , backed by the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) , reflecting continuing Kurdish political divisions. The vote was delayed beyond the constitutional deadline due to disputes within the Shiite Coordination Framework and Kurdish blocs.

By Iraq’s post-2003 power-sharing system, the presidency is reserved for a Kurdish leader, while the prime minister is chosen from Shiite blocs and the speaker from Sunni leaders.

Amidi, an engineer from Dohuk, is a long-time PUK figure who previously served as an aide to presidents Jalal Talabani, Fouad Massoum, Barham Salih and Abdul Latif Rashid , and was Iraq’s environment minister (2022-2024) . He is widely viewed as a pragmatic establishment politician.

He has stressed an “Iraq First” approach , sovereignty, and opposition to Iraq becoming a battlefield, calling for de-escalation of regional conflict .

Under the constitution, Amidi must now nominate a candidate of the largest parliamentary bloc within 15 days, with the Shiite Coordination Framework still debating its choice, including Nouri al-Maliki.