The Iraqi parliament elected Latif Rashid as the new president on Thursday. He defeated incumbent President Barham Salih. With the appointment of Rashid, Iraq hopes to quickly end the political stalemate the country has been in for nearly a year.
78-year-old Rashid is originally an engineer. He studied at the University of Manchester. From 2003 to 2010 he was Minister of Water in Iraq. Rashid is of Kurdish descent and a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. This makes him a member of the party of Iraq’s last three presidents, including Salih.
A two-thirds majority in parliament is required to appoint a president. Rashid got it only in the second round of voting. Earlier this year, the Iraqi parliament already tried three times to elect a new president. But then too few MPs showed up for a valid vote.
Rashid appointed Mohammed Shia Al Sudani as Prime Minister soon after his election. Al Sudani will thus be in charge of forming a new cabinet.
Iraq has been in a political crisis since last year’s parliamentary elections. There, Shia leader Muqtada Al Sadr became the biggest with his party. He failed to form a government, because no one wanted to collaborate with him. In August, Al Sadr said he would retire from politics. This led to heavy riots among his followers in Baghdad.
