Iraq’s parliament voted Saturday to elect Nizar Amidi, a political official with one of the country’s two main Kurdish parties, as president, five months after a parliamentary election that didn’t produce a bloc with a decisive majority.
His election comes as Iraq is reeling from the fallout of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Iraq became caught in the middle of the conflict, with Iran-backed militias launching attacks on US bases and diplomatic facilities as well as on critical energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, the US and Israel carried out airstrikes targeting the militias, some of which killed members of the Iraqi military.
The war and Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz also largely halted the oil exports upon which Iraq’s economy depends.
Amidi, a member of the political bureau of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, beat out a roster of candidates that included Iraq’s current Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein, who was the pick of the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party.
