IRAQI PARLIAMENT ELECTS ABDUL LATIF RASHID AS COUNTRY’S NEW PRESIDENT

Thu 13 October 2022:

Abdul Latif Rashid was chosen as the new president of Iraq by the Iraqi parliament on Thursday after defeating outgoing President Barham Salih in the vote.

According to the official Iraqi news agency, Rashid received 162 votes while Salih only received 99.

After the candidates were unable to win the support of two-thirds of lawmakers in the first round of voting, a second round was held.

The votes were “limited to” Salih and Rashid in the first round, according to a lawmaker from the Sovereignty Alliance, the largest Sunni bloc in parliament.

Earlier on Thursday, Parliament Speaker Mohamed al-Halbousi called to order the chamber’s sixth session on electing the president.

Iraqi political parties had failed to agree on electing a new president and prime minister since general elections held a year ago this week.

At least 269 of the 329 legislators attended the voting session on Thursday afternoon, which came hours after nine rockets struck areas near Baghdad’s Green Zone, where the parliament is located.

Iraq had already made three failed attempts this year to elect a new head of state from February 7 to March 30.

The country has witnessed months of political deadlock after powerful Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr emerged last year as the biggest winner in a parliamentary vote, but failed to rally enough support to form a government.

Al-Sadr has withdrawn his parliamentarians from the assembly and in August announced he would quit politics, prompting the worst violence in Baghdad for years.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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