2026 Iraqi presidential election

A presidential election will be held in Iraq to indirectly elect the ceremonial president of Iraq. 44 to 81 people originally registered themselves to be potential candidates before parliament closed down the nomination on 6 January. Regular Iraqi civilians have also applied to be presidential candidates as opposition against the ethno-sectarian system, with critics accusing the system of increasing inefficiency, corruption, and deepening sectarianism.

Prominent candidates included former minister of foreign affairs, Fuad Hussein, and former governor of Erbil, Nawzad Hadi of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and former minister of environment, Nizar Amedi and incumbent president, Abdul Latif Rashid of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Secretary-general of the Iraqi parliament, Al-Gargari stated that finalists will be later revealed after process.

Arabic sources have mentioned of 15 candidates being approved by parliament with Fuad Hussein and Nizar Amedi being qualified. Other candidates includes Shwan Hawiz Fariq Nam, Ahmed Abdullah Tawfiq Ahmed, Hussein Taha Hassan Mohammed Sinjari, Najm al-Din Abdul Karim Hama Karim Nasrallah, Asu Faridun Ali, Saman Ali Ismail Shali, Sabah Saleh Saeed, Abdullah Mohammed Ali Zahir, Iqbal Abdullah Amin Halawi, Nizar Mohammed Saeed Mohammed Kanji, Sardar Abdullah Mahmoud Timz, Muthanna Amin Nader, and Nawzad Hadi Mawloud.

The date has been delayed mainly at the request of the KDP and PUK that needed more time to establish their candidates and that said candidates were not approved by Shia and Sunni parliamentary groups yet. Previously, speaker Haibat al-Halbousi and KDP politician Shakhawan Abdullah had announced that the election set to be held on 27 January 28 January, a month after the 29 December parliamentary session following the 2025 parliamentary elections. The Iraqi parliament has previously been unable to be faithful towards dates.