Baghdad: Nizar Amidi was elected Iraq’s president after winning 227 of 249 votes in parliament’s second round on Saturday, becoming the country’s sixth president since 2003. Iraqi parliament elected Amidi, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) candidate, as the country’s new president, succeeding former President Abdul Latif Rashid.

According to Anadolu Agency, Amidi’s victory came after he secured a majority of votes in the second round of parliamentary voting, following the failure to reach a two-thirds majority in the first round. Amidi won the runoff election with 227 votes, while his opponent, Muthanna Amin, received 15 votes, with seven invalid ballots recorded.

Following the official announcement of the results, Amidi was invited to take the constitutional oath in parliament. An Anadolu correspondent reported that 252 out of 329 members of the parliament participated in the first round. Under the constitution, the first round of voting requires a two-thirds majority of parliament, equating to 220 out of 329 lawmakers. If no candidate secures the required votes, the election moves to a second round requiring a half-plus-one, or 165 votes.

The second round of voting is held between the two candidates with the most votes, with a simple majority required to win the presidency. The election session was held after the Iraqi parliament postponed it for the second time in early February, following disagreements between the two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the PUK, over who would hold the presidency.

According to the power-sharing system among political forces, the presidency is reserved for a Kurdish candidate, and the KDP and the PUK typically compete for it. The Iraqi parliament held its first session on December 29. Article 76, paragraph (A), stipulates that “the President, the nominee of the largest parliamentary bloc, should form the Council of Ministers within 15 days of the date of the President’s election.”