Kurds select Fuad Masum as Iraqi presidential candidate

Iraqi parties in the Kurdistan Regional Government agreed Thursday on Fuad Masum, a veteran Kurdish politician, as their presidential nominee, according to Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's website.

The agreement comes after Kurdish deputies in the Iraqi Parliament held an extraordinary meeting in Baghdad to make a choice between Fuad Masum and Barham Salih.

A total of 55 deputies from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, known as the PUK, participated in the voting. Fuad Masum won with 30 votes, Barham Salih received 23 votes. Two members voted undecided.

Masum, who was born in 1938, is one of the founding members of the PUK. In 1992, he became the first prime minister of Autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan.

After Thursday's vote, Salih congratulated Masum. And PUK Iraqi parliamentary deputy Mela Kadir embraced the result.

"Masum is the Kurds' Iraqi presidential candidate according to the voting results," Kadir said.

The new president of Iraq is expected to be elected Thursday with the beginning of the new session of the Iraqi Parliament.

According to an informal agreement between the country's political parties in 2003, the presidency is given to the Kurds. The Kurdish political parties again chose the PUK to represent them.