COR elects Dr. Barham Saleh President of Iraq

In its 4th plenary session of the first legislative year- fourth electoral cycle, held on Tuesday, October 2, 2018, the Iraqi Council of Representatives elected Dr. Barham Saleh the President of the Republic of Iraq after obtaining 219 votes.
The session was chaired by H.E the Speaker Mohammad al-Halbusi and attended by 302 MPs.
At the beginning of the session, Messrs. Yousef Mohamed, Baha Mahmoud, Ghaleb Mohamed Ali, Kawaah Mohamed and Hoshyar Abdullah were sworn in as members of the Iraqi Council of Representatives.
Al-Halbusi confirmed the acceptance of the nomination of 23 candidates for the post of President of the Republic out of 30 applicants, noting that each of Messrs Abdul Karim Abtan, Omar Al-Barzanji, Abdul Latif Mohammed Rashid, and MP Salim Hamza requested to withdraw their nominations, reducing the number to 19 candidates.
Al- Halbusi pointed out that the President is elected by a two-thirds majority and in case this is not achieved Iraqi parliament then begins the second round, to resolve the controversy and elect the president but there must be quorum before the start of the round.
The Speaker announced that the number of MPs participating in the secret ballot for the election of the President of the Republic reached 302 MPs.
The results of the manual counting and sorting of the ballot boxes of the first round were as followed: Mr. Barham Saleh won 165 votes, Mr. Fouad Hussein 89 votes, Ms. Sarwa Abdel Wahid 18 votes, Mr. Abbas Mohamed Nouri 4 votes, Mr. Nawar Saad Al Mulla and Mr. Monqez Abdul Latif Al-Saffar won two votes each and Mr. Thaer Ghanem got one vote only. 13 papers were invalid and 8 others were blank.
In the second round, Barham Saleh won with 219 votes against 22 votes for his rival Hussein Fuaad. 24 ballot papers were invalid and 7 others were blank. The number of voters in the second round was 272 MPs. Al Halbusi announced Dr. Barham Saleh President of the Republic.
Then Dr. Barham Saleh was sworn in as the President of the Republic in the presence of Chairman of Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court Medhat Al Mahmoud.
In his speech before the Council, Dr. Barham Saleh expressed his appreciation for his election as President of the Republic of Iraq and confirmed his commitment to the constitutional oath and promised to be a symbol of the unity of Iraq.
Al- Halbusi stressed that the Council was able to abide by the constitutional timelines and complete the voting process for the post of President of the Republic, wishing Barham Saleh success in his duties.
The session was then adjourned to next Tuesday 9/10/2018.
The Speaker Media Office
2/10/2018