Iraq's parliament has elected Nizar Amedi, a Kurdish career politician nominated by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), as the country's new president, breaking a political impasse that had paralysed government formation for nearly five months following November 2025 elections. In a second round of voting held on Saturday, Amedi secured 227 of 249 votes cast, comfortably defeating independent candidate Muthanna Amin Nader, who received 15 votes. He becomes the sixth Iraqi head of state since the US-led removal of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

The session was far from straightforward. A deepening rift between Iraq's two main Kurdish parties — the PUK and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDC) — cast a shadow over proceedings, with the KDC, along with several other political blocs, boycotting the vote. KDC leader Masoud Barzani had demanded that the prime ministerial nomination be resolved before any presidential election took place, calling it unacceptable to proceed otherwise. Previous attempts to hold the session, in January and February, had also failed. Amedi fell short of the two-thirds majority required in the first round, necessitating a second round in which a simple majority sufficed.

Speaking to parliament after taking the constitutional oath of office, Amedi struck a measured and unifying tone. "I am fully aware of the scale of challenges facing our country," he said, pledging to work alongside all branches of government under the principle of "Iraq First." He also rejected what he described as attacks targeting Iraq's security and sovereignty — a reference to strikes and counter-strikes that occurred on Iraqi soil during the recent weeks-long US-Israeli war on Iran, which ended with a ceasefire earlier this week. Iran-backed armed groups had launched attacks on US bases and diplomatic facilities in Iraq, while American and Israeli strikes targeting those groups killed members of the Iraqi military.

Amedi, 58, is a seasoned public servant with more than two decades of experience at the heart of Iraqi politics. He previously served as chief of staff to two former presidents — Fuad Masum and Barham Salih — and as environment minister from December 2022 until his resignation in October 2024. His profile as a technocratic insider rather than a partisan figure may prove an asset in the fraught negotiations ahead.

Attention now turns to the far more contentious question of who will serve as prime minister. Under Iraq's post-2003 sectarian power-sharing arrangement, the presidency is reserved for a Kurd, the parliamentary speakership for a Sunni, and the prime ministership for a Shia Muslim. The Coordination Framework, a grouping of Iran-aligned Shia parties holding a parliamentary majority, has nominated former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for the role — a prospect that drew a sharp rebuke from US President Donald Trump, who threatened to withdraw American support for Iraq if al-Maliki were tasked with forming a government. With Amedi now constitutionally required to assign a prime ministerial nominee within 15 days, and a cabinet to be formed within 30 days after that, the pressure to reach a compromise candidate is mounting rapidly.