Monday’s Parliament: The “Key” To The Three Presidencies And The Gateway To Drawing The Map Of Power In Iraq
(As I post this article its Monday morning in Germany, the first phase of the appointing the three presidencies is done. See next article.)
All eyes will be on Monday (December 29, 2025) on a parliamentary session described as the most sensitive since the start of the recent political elections, not only because it will put the parliament in control of its presidency, but also because it represents an early gateway to determining the direction of the three presidencies, and an initial test of the blocs’ ability to produce a balanced settlement before moving on to more weighty issues related to the formation of the government, the cabinet, and the course of agreements within the state.
Why is tomorrow’s session crucial?
Rebin Salam, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, said that tomorrow’s session is a historic and pivotal moment in the course of the political process in Iraq, both internally regarding the formation of the cabinet and in taking the first step to determine the three presidencies.
Salam explained in an exclusive interview with “Baghdad Today” that tomorrow’s session is the most complex compared to the rest of the political entitlements, because it is dedicated, according to the Iraqi constitution, to choosing the presidential body of the House of Representatives, and not just the Speaker of the House, indicating that the selection of this body is directly linked to the entitlements of the other components, and is not limited to the Sunni component.
Background to the session: A full presidential body, not just one position.
The sensitivity of the session is highlighted by the fact that it does not decide on a single position, but rather draws up a complete structure within the legislative institution through the election of the president and his two deputies, which makes it a pivotal point for subsequent paths, because the confirmation of the parliament’s presidency often reflects on the form of consensus regarding the other two sovereign positions in the state, and turns the vote into a political signal that goes beyond the parliament hall towards the entire map of power.
According to Salam, the complexity of the session is not due to the names alone, but rather to the fact that the “Presidency Body” is linked to the balances of the components, the arrangements of the blocs, and what it may open up to in terms of mutual demands when moving to the presidency of the Republic and the premiership, which makes any detail within Parliament counted within a broader basket of calculations.
The most prominent issue: First Deputy and Second Deputy
Salam pointed out that the main problem lies in choosing the first and second deputy speakers of the House of Representatives, as they constitute the most prominent obstacle in this entitlement, noting that the position of second deputy is currently occupied by Shakhwan Abdullah, who belongs to the Kurdistan Democratic Party, at a time when it is likely that the position of President of the Republic will be allocated to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which adds more complexity to the scene.
In this context, the issue of the two deputies turns into a double balancing test: a balance within the parliament related to the distribution of influence within the presidency, and another balance related to what will become of the “basket of entitlements” at the state level, especially within the Kurdish house, with the likelihood of the presidency going to the Patriotic Union, in contrast to the Democratic Party’s adherence to its position within the parliament’s presidency.
Other blocs’ positions: Sensitivity to combining positions
Salam added that the distribution of these positions is also linked to the positions of other political blocs, including the Development and Reconstruction bloc, which does not tend to combine the premiership and the first deputy speaker of parliament within one political entity, which makes the consensus process more complicated and sensitive, because the dispute here is not about one position in isolation from others, but rather about the shape of the balance within the authority, and the limits of concentrating the decision in one entity.
What will the session reveal?
Salam concluded by saying that the outcomes of tomorrow’s session will reveal the features of the next stage and clearly define the political path for the other two sovereign positions in the state, namely the presidency and the second position in the Iraqi power pyramid, indicating that what will happen inside the parliament will not remain limited to electing the council’s leadership, but will turn into an indicator of the direction of future settlements, either the beginning of a smooth understanding process, or the beginning of a complication that extends to the rest of the entitlements.