INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Iraq&s parliament on Thursday elected Kurdish politician Abdul Latif Rashid as president, who immediately named Mohammed Shia al-Sudani
prime minister-designate, ending a year of deadlock after a national election in October last year, Reuters reported.The presidency,
traditionally occupied by a Kurd, is a largely ceremonial position, but the vote for Rashid was a key step toward forming a new government,
which politicians have failed to do since the election.Rashid, 78, was the Iraqi minister of water resources from 2003-2010
The British-educated engineer won against former President Barham Salih, who was running for a second term.He invited Sudani, the nominee of
the largest parliamentary bloc known as the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Iran-aligned factions, to form a government
Sudani, 52, previously served as Iraq&s human rights minister as well as minister of labour and social affairs, read the report.Sudani now
has 30 days to form a cabinet and present it to parliament for approval.According to Reuters Thursday&s vote, which was the fourth attempt
to elect a president this year, took place shortly after nine rockets landed on Thursday around the Iraqi capital&s Green Zone, according to
a military statement.At least 10 people, including members of the security forces, were injured in the attack, according to security and
medical sources.Similar attacks took place last month as the parliament was holding a vote to confirm its speaker.Thursday&s parliament
session comes a year after an election in which populist Shi&ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was the biggest winner but failed to rally
support to form a government.Sadr withdrew his 73 lawmakers in August and said he would quit politics, prompting the worst violence in
Baghdad for years when his loyalists stormed a government palace and fought rival Shi&ite groups, most of them backed by Iran and with armed
wings.Sadr, who has not declared his next move, has a track record of radical action, including fighting United States forces, quitting
cabinets, and protesting against governments
Many fear protests by his supporters, Reuters reported.Security personnel had deployed checkpoints across the city, closed off bridges and
squares and erected walls across some of the bridges leading to the fortified Green Zone on Thursday.Now Iran-backed groups are dominating
the parliament, they have a friendly judiciary and have dominated the executive (authority)…they will need to benefit from it, one way to
benefit from it is to do it gradually or suddenly and try marginalize or expel pro-Sadrists from the state apparatuses,& said Hamdi Malik,
specialist on Iraq&s Shi&ite militias at the Washington Institute, adding the approach on how they do it will determine how Sadr will
react.Under a power-sharing system designed to avoid sectarian conflict, Iraq&s president is a Kurd, its prime minister a Shi&ite and its
parliament speaker a Sunni, read the report.The post Iraq elects new president and premier, ending stalemate first appeared on Ariana News.
