According to Kurdpress, on April 12, 2026, the Iraqi parliament ended month of political deadlock by electing Nizar Amidi, the candidate of the Patriotic Union Kurdistan (PUK), as the country's new president. At the same time, it exposed intra-Kurdish rivalries more than ever, but it also paved the way for the formation of a new government.

Amed, the fifth Kurdish president of Iraq since 2003, won the second round of parliamentary elections in a long and tense contest. The contest not only highlighted the divisions between the main Kurdish parties, especially the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), but also demonstrated once again that the Iraqi presidency has become an arena for political bargaining in Baghdad.

A low-profile figure with a long history of presence in the presidential institution

Nizar Amidi was born in 1968 in Amadi district oF Dohuk province. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and has worked for many years in the federal structures of Iraq as well as the political system of the Kurdistan region. He is a member of the political bureau of the Patriotic Union Kurdistan and previously headed the party's office in Baghdad.

Overall, although his election has ended a stalemate, it is not a sign of a solution to Iraq's deep political crisis, a crisis that continues to cast the future of the country's power structure in a halo of uncertainty .