TALABANI : TEHRAN IS GENEROUS TO A BEST FRIEND

Hashimi: Maliki preventing election of new Iraqi President

16.01.2014 – Hemin Salih – BasNews (Ankara): Exiled former Iraqi Sunni vice president Tariq al-Hashimi has revealed that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has prevented efforts to find a new replacement for the vacant Iraqi presidential post.

In an interview with London-based Pan-Arab paper Asharq Al Awsat, Hashimi talked about the future of the Iraqi president post, which has been vacant for more than a year after Jalal Talabani suffered from a stroke.Since then, Talabani has been recovering in a private hospital in Berlin, Germany.

“The Iraqi constitution only allows the Iraqi president a one month vacancy, after that a new president should be chosen,” Hashimi explained. “However, Maliki, with the support of Iran and other super powers, has prevented the election of a new president,” Hashimi added. Hashimi says Maliki is preventing this from happening because the new president would then have the power to choose a new prime minister, which Maliki does not want.“The issue surrounding the Iraqi presidential post is much bigger than just an issue for Kurds or his party, the PUK”, Hashimi added.