Rebar Ahmed has been nominated by one of the leading Kurdish political parties to run for the Iraqi presidency.
Mr Ahmed, 54, has served as the Kurdistan Region’s Interior Minister since 2019, and is known to have close ties with Kurdistan’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.
“After careful consideration and a meeting with Mr Barzani, the Kurdistan Democratic Party has decided to nominate Rebar Ahmed for the presidency as we see him fit for the post,” a party member told The National.
The politician stands against 25 candidates approved by the Iraqi Parliament running for the role, including current President Barham Salih.
The decision to nominate Mr Ahmed follows the disqualification of the party's first nominee Hoshyar Zebari.
He was Iraq's finance minister but was removed from office after a vote of no confidence over alleged corruption and misuse of public funds.
Complaints were made against Mr Zebari's nomination on the grounds that his running would have been “unconstitutional” due to outstanding corruption charges against him.
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Iraqi election officials conduct a manual count of votes from a ballot box picked at random as part of the verification process for the electronic count, at a polling station in the central city of Karbala. AFP -
Iraqi election officials in Karbala. AFP -
Iraqi election officials conduct a manual count of votes at a polling station in the capital Baghdad. AFP -
Iraqi election officials check data at a polling station in Baghdad. AFP -
Iraqi officials print out the electronic count of votes at a polling station in Karbala. AFP -
Iraqi election officials conduct the electronic count of votes at a polling station in the northern city of Mosul. AFP -
Iraqi election officials count votes at a polling station in Baghdad. AFP -
An Iraqi election official holds a printout of the electronic count of votes at a polling station in the north-eastern city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. AFP -
Iraqi officials print out the electronic count of votes at a polling station in the north-eastern city of Sulaymaniyah. AFP -
Iraqi election committee staff members count votes at the end of the parliamentary election day at a polling station in Baghdad's Karada district. EPA -
Iraqi election committee staff members count votes to elect 329 new members of the Council of Representatives. EPA -
Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission is expected to announce the results of Sunday's election within two days. EPA -
Iraqi election committee staff members count votes at the end of Sunday's parliamentary election day at a polling station in Baghdad's Karada district. EPA -
A woman voter casts her vote at a polling station in Baghdad. AFP -
Election workers count ballots at a polling station in Baghdad at the end of voting in parliamentary elections. AP -
An election worker counts ballots after polls close. Parliamentary elections were held months ahead of schedule in response to a popular uprising against corruption and mismanagement. AP
Iraq’s political system is divided among Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish political parties.
Top positions such as the presidency are reserved for a nomination from one of the two main Kurdish parties, while Shiites get the prime minister’s post and Sunnis get the parliamentary speaker's position.
President Barham Salih will remain in office until further notice, after a ruling by the Federal Supreme Court late on Sunday.
He has been nominated for a second term by the Kurdish Patriotic Union party.
