Baghdad: The Iraqi parliament announced that it will convene a session on Sunday to elect the country's new president. The gathering is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. local time (0800 GMT) and will also include the constitutional oath-taking ceremony for some newly elected lawmakers.

According to Nam News Network, a previous session intended for this purpose on Tuesday was postponed due to a lack of agreement between Iraq's two main Kurdish parties. The urgency of the session stems from the parliamentary elections held in November, as the Iraqi constitution mandates that parliament must elect a president within 30 days of its first session, which took place on December 29. Following the election of the president, there is a 15-day window to nominate the leader of the largest parliamentary bloc as the prime minister, who will then form a new cabinet requiring a confidence vote within 30 days.

The Coordination Framework, a Shiite-led alliance and the largest parliamentary bloc in Iraq, nominated former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on January 24 to head the next government. This nomination has sparked international reactions, with U.S. President Donald Trump issuing a warning on Tuesday that Washington would withdraw its support for Iraq if al-Maliki returned to power. Al-Maliki responded on Wednesday, criticizing the remarks as blatant U.S. interference in Iraqi sovereignty.

Iraq's political system, established after 2003, is based on an ethno-sectarian power-sharing arrangement. This system allocates the presidency to a Kurd, the parliamentary speaker position to a Sunni Muslim, and the prime minister's role to a Shiite Muslim.