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Iraqi Parliament Announces 25 Presidential Candidates

An Iraqi man registers to obtain his voting cards ahead of the parliamentary elections, in Najaf, September 2021. (Getty Images)
An Iraqi man registers to obtain his voting cards ahead of the parliamentary elections, in Najaf, September 2021. (Getty Images)
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Iraqi Parliament Announces 25 Presidential Candidates

An Iraqi man registers to obtain his voting cards ahead of the parliamentary elections, in Najaf, September 2021. (Getty Images)
An Iraqi man registers to obtain his voting cards ahead of the parliamentary elections, in Najaf, September 2021. (Getty Images)

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.

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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he would travel to Syria on Friday to encourage the country's transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by insurgents, and appealed on Europe to review its sanctions on Damascus now that the political situation has changed.
Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome on Thursday of foreign ministry officials from five countries, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
The aim, he said, is to coordinate the various post-Assad initiatives, with Italy prepared to make proposals on private investments in health care for the Syrian population.
Going into the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their European counterparts, Tajani said it was critical that all Syrians be recognized with equal rights. It was a reference to concerns about the rights of Christians and other minorities under Syria’s new de facto authorities of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HT.
“The first messages from Damascus have been positive. That’s why I’m going there tomorrow, to encourage this new phase that will help stabilize the international situation,” Tajani said.
Speaking to reporters, he said the European Union should discuss possible changes to its sanctions on Syria. “It’s an issue that should be discussed because Assad isn’t there anymore, it’s a new situation, and I think that the encouraging signals that are arriving should be further encouraged,” he said.
Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the US, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war.
HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.
The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of a Syrian opposition leader whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.
Syria’s new leaders also have been urged to respect the rights of minorities and women. Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of insurgents.