Why Barham Salih isn't Iraq's new president
Internal politics led to the selection of Fouad Massoum as the Kurdish candidate instead of Barham Salih.
The Kurdish choice of Fouad Massoum and his eventual election as Iraq’s new (and second Kurdish) president needs further scrutiny. My last article on this issue resonated among Iraqi Kurdish officials. I received valuable (but non-attributable) information and a correction on the voting attitudes of Kurdish parliamentarians in the Iraqi national assembly that shed new light on how local political considerations and calculations may be instrumental in determining regional and international politics, a phenomenon exclusive to the Middle East.
In my last article, I had written the following:
"Late July 23, in a closed-door gathering in Baghdad, Kurdish members of parliament voted for their presidential candidate in a contest between [Patriotic Union of Kurdistan] PUK senior leaders Massoum and Barham Salih.
"In a close race, Massoum won a majority of 30-23. The rest of the Kurds' parliamentary bloc was absent.
