The Iraqi Supreme Federal Court on Sunday suspended the nomination of the former foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari for the presidential post, temporarily, pending cross examination into a libel suit charging that he is illegible for the top office. Zebari, a frontrunner for the presidency, was hit by the court's order on the eve of parliament's vote on the position. The suspension was put in place citing years-old corruption charges against him. The court said in a statement that a number of parliament members filed the suit requesting that Zebari's candidacy procedures be stopped due to "constitutional irregularities. They argued that he had been stripped of his parliamentary immunity on corruption charges in 2016. They also noted that Zebari, affiliated to the Democratic Party of Kurdistan, had been accused of manipulation with public funds. The court said it suspended his nomination procedures until the case is resolved by the federal tribunal. Zebari was widely expected to be elected the new president considering his party's alliance with the heavyweight Sadrist movement and "Al-Seyadah coalition." The decision came a day ahead of a scheduled parliamentary session, during which MPs might vote for electing a new president from among 24 hopefuls including the incumbent president, Barham Salih. It has become, considering a series of latest events, quite controversial whether Monday's session would held for sure. On Saturday, the heavyweight political movement, Al-Sadrist bloc, suspended negotiations with coalitions for forming a new government and called for boycotting Monday's parliamentary session. The bloc head, Hassan Al-Adhari, speaking at a news conference in the Iraqi capital on Saturday, declared that upon instructions by the movement supreme leader, Moqtada Al-Sadr, a decision had been taken to suspend, indefinitely, the negotiations with the other parties for forming a new government. Al-Ahhari urged all members of Al-Sadrist group to abstain from attending Monday's session. He, however, neither explained why the bloc had taken such a drastic political move, nor mentioned how the step would impact on the tripartite alliance that links up the group with the Democratic Party of Kurdistan and "Al-Seyada alliance," whose coordination had resulted in the recent election of Mohammad Al-Halbousi as head of the parliament. These allies had reportedly reached a consensus on naming Zebari, a veteran leading member of the Kurdish party, as president in the Monday session. There are some 73 members of Al-Sadrist group in the 329-seat parliament. The required quorum for holding the voting for president is around 200. It was the second blow in 48 hours to Zebari's presidential drive, and the latest chapter in the war-scarred country's divisive politics. Iraq's highest judicial body said the complainants consider that Zebari does not fulfill constitutional requirements that the head of state must have "a good reputation and integrity". The complaint also cited at least two other judicial cases linked to him, including when he was the country's long-time foreign minister after the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein in the 2003 US-led invasion. The court's decision is the latest chapter in Iraq's turbulent politics. The scheduled presidential vote follows October legislative elections marred by record-low turnout, post-election threats and violence, and a delay until final results were confirmed in late December. The presidency, with a four-year mandate, is by convention held by a member of Iraq's Kurdish minority. Zebari is the candidate of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). After Saddam's overthrow he served an unbroken 2003-2014 term as foreign minister before taking up the finance portfolio from which he was sacked. "I have not been convicted in any court," Zebari said in a television interview on Friday night as the charges resurfaced alongside forecasts he would unseat Salih, the candidate of KDP's rival in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). — Agencies
