Veteran Kurdish politician elected president of Iraq
Source: Washington Post
BAGHDAD A veteran Kurdish politician was elected president of Iraq on Thursday, as political leaders moved a step closer to forming a new government that will face the momentous task of repairing the deep divisions that are tearing the country apart.
Fuad Masum received 211 of 269 votes in the Iraqi parliament after the Kurds presented him as their only candidate for the post. An informal power-sharing agreement dictates that the role of president goes to a Kurd, speaker of parliament to a Sunni and prime minister to a Shiite.
Masums election starts the clock ticking on the thornier issue of the role of prime minister, as pressure mounts on the incumbent, Nouri al-Maliki, to step aside. Shiite lawmakers now have 15 days to name a prime minister, according to the constitution.
The United States is among countries urging Iraqis to move rapidly to form a new government after advances by the armed Sunni extremist group that calls itself the Islamic State, which has taken over large swaths of Iraq in an offensive that began last month.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/veteran-kurdish-politician-elected-president-of-iraq/2014/07/24/28448523-487b-4091-a4f1-fb7eefb87899_story.html
Too bad there
is no Iraq, huh?