BAGHDAD – A Kurdish political party and a Sunni political coalition have chosen to boycott the upcoming Parliament session to elect a new President for Iraq, threatening to postpone the session.
"We decided not to attend the Council of Representatives (Parliament) session on Monday to complete the ongoing consultations and dialogues between the political blocs," the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, who won 33 seats in the October 10 elections, said in a statement.
In a second statement, the Sunni political organisation al-Siyada Alliance, led by businessman Khamis al-Khanjar, announced it had opted not to participate in the Council of Representatives session in order to support political discussion.
According to State media, the Sadrist Movement, which is devoted to Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr and won 73 seats out of 329, chose to boycott Monday's Parliament session on February 5. The three political groups' boycott of the Parliamentary session threatens to postpone it till further notice.
The boycott was also prompted by the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court's decision to postpone the KDP's presidential nominee of Hoshyar Zebari until a corruption case against him is concluded.
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