Iraq’s parliament elects Nizar Amedi as the country’s new president

The Iraqi parliament on Saturday elected Kurdish politician Nizar Amedi as the country's new president, following a parliamentary election last November.

Amedi, 58, is a former environment minister and has headed the political office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Baghdad since 2024.

He was elected after securing a majority in the second round of parliamentary voting, having fallen short of the required two-thirds majority in the first round.

In the runoff, Amedi won 227 votes against 15 for his opponent, Muthanna Amin, with seven invalid ballots. Following the official announcement, he was invited to take the constitutional oath in parliament.

Under Iraq’s constitution, a candidate must secure a two-thirds majority (220 out of 329 lawmakers) in the first round.

If this threshold is not met, the election proceeds to a second round between the top two candidates, where a simple majority is sufficient.

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The vote came after the session had been postponed twice earlier this year due to disagreements between the two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the PUK, over the presidency.

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