Iraq's fourth President: Who is Barham Salih?

In the voting held in the Iraqi Parliament on October 2, 2018, Barham Salih received 165 votes, and Fuad Hussein, the candidate of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), received 89 votes; Since both candidates could not get enough votes, it was necessary to go to the second round. Although the KDP group announced at the last moment that it was withdrawing Hussein's candidacy, Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi insisted on the second round of voting since Hussein did not make the announcement himself. Thereupon, the KDP group left the hall. Saleh, who received 219 votes in the second round, became the fourth president of Iraq after the US invasion.

Barham Salih (born 12 September 1960) is an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the eighth president of Iraq from 2018 to 2022. He is the former prime minister of the Kurdistan Region and a former deputy prime minister of the Iraqi federal government. He was elected and assumed office as president of Iraq on 2 October 2018. Masum is the third non-Arab president of Iraq, succeeding Fuad Masum, also Kurdish. On October 2022 he lost his re-election to Abdul Latif Rashid.

After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime with the invasion of the USA in 2003, in accordance with Iraq's new constitution, which was written considering the balance of sectarian and ethnic identity, the chairmanship of the parliament is given to the Sunnis, the prime minister to the Shiites, and the presidency to the Kurds. Salih's name was also mentioned for the presidency in 2014, but his candidacy was blocked by his opponents from within the PUK, led by Celal Talabani's wife, Hero Talabani.

Barham Salih is 63 years old. In 1992, the year the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (IKRG) was founded, he was first elected to the management team of the PUK, then to the parliament, and served as the Washington representative of his party for about 10 years. Born in Sulaymaniyah, whom he regards as one of Celal Talabani's sons, he was the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq between 2004-2009 and the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government between 2009-2012. Salih, who is a graduate of Cardiff University in England and holds a doctorate in both economics and computer engineering, is also the founder of the American University in Sulaymaniyah.

Dr Barham Salih is well educated as everyone knows very well. He represented the PUK in Washington successfully for many years during the Saddam era. After him, Kubat Talabani, the son of the late Celal Talabani, continued this task successfully. After the US intervention, Dr. Barham took important positions in the interim government in Baghdad, served as the Deputy Prime Minister, and was responsible for the economy. He then served as prime minister in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. He is a moderate and open-minded politician. On the other hand, as a politician who knows the best English among the Kurds, has the ability to represent internationally, is experienced, and knows Arabic very well, there seemed to be no alternative.