MNA – The lawmakers at Iraqi parliament have elected the Kurdish politician Barham Salih as the new president of the country in a Tuesday session.

As a veteran Kurdish politician from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) political party, Barham Salih was running against his sole challenger from the Kurdistan Democratic Party's (KDP), Fuad Hussein, who withdrew from the second round of the vote after witnessing his 90 votes compared to Salih’s 165 in the first round.

Salih has already served as the prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan and deputy prime minister of the Iraqi federal government.

According to an informal power-sharing arrangement, Iraq’s senior posts are divided along with ethnic-sectarian lines - with the prime minister being a Shia Muslim, the parliament speaker a Sunni, and the presidency, a largely ceremonial role, is held by a Kurd.