Abdul Latif Rashid sworn in as Iraq's new president

A tacit agreement reserves the Iraqi head of state to a Kurd. The unwritten clause in the Constitution stipulates that it must be a member of this minority community in Iraq who presides over the Republic. It is an informal, symbolic concession that has brought figures such as Jalal Talabani and Fuad Masum to power over the past two decades, and now rewards the career of former minister and presidential adviser Abdul Latif Rashid. 

The veteran Kurdish politician was sworn in on Monday in a solemn ceremony held at the Al Salam Palace, or Peace Palace, the presidential residence once occupied by the dictator Saddam Hussein. Within the walls that protect Baghdad's Green Zone, the heart of the Iraqi capital, Rashid took over from his predecessor, fellow Kurd Barham Salih, with whom he contested the post in parliament on Thursday. 

A 63-vote margin in his favour thwarted the re-election of Salih, a charismatic leader whose mandate has been characterised by going beyond the presidential framework to iron out differences between political leaders. The outgoing president, however, had lost the political support in Kurdistan needed to take office. Rashid, on the other hand, had garnered sufficient support despite running as an independent, beyond the acronym of his former and current party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (UPK).

The former water minister in the first post-Saddam government won the vote as missiles rained down on the parliament building and other buildings in the Green Zone. Five people were injured in a fresh offensive on Baghdad's nerve centre that delayed, but did not postpone, the session. No one claimed responsibility. Rashid emerged victorious from a secret ballot in which he won 162 of the 261 votes cast. 

"I thank the supreme religious authority and the representatives of the Iraqi people for having given me their trust," he said in his inauguration speech from Al Salam. The hydraulic engineer by training ascends to the presidency with the task of accelerating the formation of a government and leaving behind a turbulent period, marked by division in the Shia sector. The Iranian-backed Coordination Framework is vying for power with the Movement led by the nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The Sadrist bloc, ultimately the most voted force in parliament with 73 seats after the October 2021 elections, proved incapable of forming a government. Its leader forced the mass resignation of his deputies to shake up the chessboard, but the gamble did not work. The Coordination Framework set in motion the appointment of Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, who had been a minister in the cabinet of former head of government Nuri al-Maliki, al-Sadr's nemesis. 

In August, the cleric ordered his ranks to storm parliament. This began a series of protests and demonstrations that ended with the chamber occupied by Sadrists and several deaths. The serious consequences led the populist leader to leave the political arena again, at least temporarily, a few days later. Militias from both sides staged the bloody clashes in Baghdad, even in the theoretically fortified Green Zone.

Rashid's election opened a window of opportunity to unblock the institutions. The incoming president was supposed to give the task of forming a government to a representative who could get the parliamentary arithmetic right. According to the Constitution, Rashid had a period of 15 days, although his intention was to do so as soon as possible, which is why he appointed al-Sudani, who will have to weave a network of sufficient support to head a new government in a record 30 days.

"We hope that the new government will be formed quickly to meet the demands of the Iraqis," Rashid said at the end of his inauguration, according to the state-run INA news agency. The new president is a figure close to former Prime Minister al-Maliki, one of the heavyweights of the Coordination Framework, who has many allies in parliament. It is likely to succeed, because the deadline is not a problem. It is routinely violated. 

As expected, al-Sudani will not have members of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Movement in his cabinet. The platform refused on Saturday to join the executive. The short-term challenge will be to reach that majority without al-Sadr. In the meantime, $87 billion in revenues from oil exports await in state coffers to be invested in improving Iraqis' living conditions. Only the passage of a budget through parliament would unlock desperately needed funds, but that is a long way off.