BAGHDAD, Feb 14 (NNN-NINA) – The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court, decided yesterday, to cancel Hoshyar Zebari’s presidential candidacy, a week after suspending his nomination, over a corruption lawsuit against him.
A statement by the court said, it decided to cancel Zebari’s candidacy for the presidency of the republic for not fulfilling the conditions for nomination, stipulated in the country’s constitution.
On Feb 6, the federal court said, it decided to “suspend the procedures (nomination and voting in parliament) to elect Hoshyar Zebari to the post of President, until the case is resolved.”
The court’s decision came, after some lawmakers filed a lawsuit against Zebari’s presidential candidacy, over allegations of his financial and administrative corruption.
Two days after Zebari’s suspension, the parliament reopened the nomination for the post of president of the country for three days, noting that, the decision came due to the expiration of the constitutional period of 30 days (from the first session on Jan 9) to elect a new president.
The Iraqi parliament had set Feb 7, as a date for holding its second session to elect a new president of the country, from among 25 candidates, but the parliament failed to hold the session due to a lack of quorum and the political disputes among parliamentary blocs.
On Jan 31, the Iraqi parliament announced the names of 25 candidates for the presidential election, including incumbent President, Barham Salih, who represents the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, former Foreign Minister and Finance Minister, Hoshyar Zebari from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and Rizgar Mohammed Amin, former chief judge of the Iraqi Special Tribunal that organised the trial of former Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein.
On Jan 9, the Iraqi parliament held the first session, in which the lawmakers elected speaker of parliament and his two deputies. According to the Iraqi constitution, lawmakers should elect a new Iraqi president from the candidates by a two-thirds majority of its members.
Once elected, the new president will ask the largest parliamentary alliance, to name a prime minister-designate, to form a government within 30 days.
On Oct 10, 2021, Iraq held the fifth parliamentary election, where Shiite Muslim cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr’s Sadrist Movement emerged as the biggest winner with 73 out of the 329 seats.– NNN-NINA
