The Iraqi Parliament announced on Monday the names of 25 candidates who will run in the upcoming presidential polls scheduled for February 7.
Candidates need to obtain the votes of two-thirds of parliament members (220 out of 329 lawmakers) to win in the first voting round.
In case none of them met the required quorum, the parliament would vote in a second round for two of the candidates who obtained the highest number of votes. The candidate would win by obtaining a majority of half plus one of the votes (165 votes).
A female candidate is among more than 10 Kurdish candidates and another female is in a list of Arab candidates for the position.
Prominent candidates that will most likely secure the highest votes are current Kurdish President Barham Salih, who is running for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) senior official and former Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.
Political circles also expect Razkar Mohammed Amin, former Chief Judge of the Iraqi Special Tribunal that prosecuted former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, to have high chances, along with the former Minister of Water Resources and son-in-law of the late President Jalal Talabani, Latif Rashid.
Most local observers are still reluctant to confirm the identity of the upcoming president, given the serious differences between the two main Kurdish parties, the PUK and KDP.
To avoid their loss, perhaps both parties will agree to choose a candidate by consensus, the observers noted.
The two Kurdish parties have shared positions in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq for five parliamentary rounds.
The President of the Kurdistan Region represents the KDP while the President of Iraq represents the PUK.
However, differences between the two parties may this time change the previous equation.
