Another session of Iraqi parliament came and went with no settlement, though it is widely expected that the vote on president will proceed tomorrow, as the Kurdish blocs have finally settled on a candidate.
That will be Fuad Masum, a long-time member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party, and a former de facto Kurdish premier during the Saddam Hussein era.
Under a power-sharing agreement, the position of parliament speaker traditionally goes to a Sunni Arab, president to a Kurd, and prime minister to a Shi’ite Arab. This is not a legal requirement, but has so far held true in every Iraqi government.
Masum is said to have narrowly beat out Barham Saleh, another Kurdish MP, in the closed-door vote on which candidate would be offered to parliament as the unanimous Kurdish choice.