PUK officially nominated Barham Salih on Sunday, January 23, as a candidate for the presidency of the republic for a second term.
A high-level delegation from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) arrived on Monday in Baghdad to hold talks about their nominee for the Presidency, Hoshyar Zebari.
Earlier, KDP said that the Presidency position is an entitlement of the Kurdish component, not a party itself.
The KDP spokesperson Mahmoud Mohammed's remarks come amid a disagreement between the two leading Kurdish parties in the Kurdistan Region over the next President of the Republic of Iraq.
While the PUK insists upon naming Salih for a second mandate, its rival (Kurdistan Democratic Party-KDP) does not agree that he has "adequately discharged" the role of President and named Hoshyar Zebari as its candidate for the position.
A senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) announced that Hoshyar Zebari, a senior member of the party, was nominated for the Iraqi presidency after the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) insisted that Barham Salih will be nominated for the post.
"We did not intend to go to the polls for the Iraqi presidential candidate with two candidates, and the candidacy of Zebari is not to pressure or gain votes from any movement or block, but it was a reaction to the PUK insistence on nominating Salih for the post," Majid Shingali was quoted as saying by the al-Maelomeh News Agency.
Shingali added: "The presidency is the share of the Kurds, not a specific party, and there should be changes to the post, because presidents after Jalal Talabani did not play a big role."
The senior KDP member also said: "The political tradition regarding the election of the Iraqi president will change. The gap among the Kurds occurred in 2018 and we have clear agreements and commitments at the current stage and the number of representatives supporting each candidate in the Iraqi parliament will decide.
Per the power-sharing formula between the two leading Kurdish parties, the President of the Republic was usually named by the PUK. However, this might change in light of the parliamentary election results that saw the KDP securing 31 seats, compared to the PUK's 17.
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