The country’s ex-foreign minister, who had faced corruption allegations in the past, called the ruling an ‘injustice’
Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court ruled on Sunday that Hoshyar Zebari, a prominent Kurdish politician who served as the country’s top diplomat for over a decade, cannot run for president. The judges dismissed Parliament’s earlier decision to accept Zebari’s bid as “invalid,” a court statement reads.
The ruling, which followed last Sunday’s temporary suspension, is final and cannot be appealed.
The politician has been facing corruption allegations for years and was fired by Parliament from his post as finance minister back in 2016; he lamented “injustice and arbitrariness” in the court’s decision.
Zebari has maintained his innocence all along, describing allegations of corruption leveled at him as politically motivated.
Clouds began gathering over the Kurdish presidential hopeful earlier this month when four lawmakers urged the federal court to bar him from the race, accusing Zebari of corruption. The petition first saw Iraq’s top court suspend his bid temporarily, with the judges barring him from the race in the end.
Parliament was supposed to decide on a new head of state last Monday, but the vote was postponed indefinitely as there was no quorum needed for that. It came after many MPs said they would boycott the vote following the Supreme Federal Court’s initial decision to suspend Zebari’s candidacy temporarily.
The inability to elect a president leaves a huge question mark hanging over what Iraq’s new government will look like, as by law it is the president who asks the winning bloc to form one.
Divided along sectarian and ethnic lines, Iraq has been gripped by political instability and crises for months now, with the results of October’s parliamentary vote being confirmed only in December amid political bickering among rival groups.
According to Reuters, Zebari initially had high chances of winning the election and becoming president. The chief executive’s role under the Iraqi constitution is largely ceremonial and reserved exclusively for Kurds.
