On Monday, President Masoud Barzani met with a high-level delegation from Iraq’s Coordination Framework to discuss the Iraqi presidency and the formation of a new government amid continuing political deadlock in Baghdad.

The delegation included current Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, head of the Reconstruction and Development Coalition; Hadi al-Amiri, Secretary-General of the Badr Organization; Mohsen al-Mandalawi, head of the al-Asas Coalition; and Abbas Radi, Secretary-General of the Coordination Framework.

The meeting focused on Iraq’s political situation, developments in the political process, the election of the President of the Republic, and efforts to form the new Iraqi federal government.

President Barzani stressed that the position of President of the Republic is the Kurds’ entitlement and underscored the need for a clear, fixed mechanism for electing the president. Such a mechanism, he noted, would help prevent the political process from becoming gridlocked or entering a crisis during each election cycle by ensuring the presidential candidate is selected according to an agreed framework.

Read More: President Barzani Calls for Kurdish Consensus on Iraqi Presidency

In a statement, the media office of Iraqi Prime Minister al-Sudani said that the meeting reviewed the forthcoming constitutional entitlements, foremost among them the election of the President of the Republic, with a view to completing the formation of the government in accordance with the results of the parliamentary elections.

Moreover, in a separate meeting, President Barzani met with Muthanna al-Samarrai, head of the Sunni political bloc, the Azem Alliance.

During the meeting, the political situation in Iraq and the region in general was discussed, and attention was also given to the latest developments in Iraq’s political process and the steps related to forming the new government.

The two Iraqi delegations’ visit to the Kurdistan Region come amid continued disagreements between the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan over the selection of the future Iraqi President.

Furthermore, last week, the Shi’a-majority Coordination Framework announced it had picked Nouri al-Maliki as its candidate for the position of prime minister after months of deliberation. 

However, U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed disagreement with this appointment, leading to uncertainty as to whether the Coordination Framework will continue to support al-Maliki as the future Iraqi Prime Minister.