The only problem would be the long standing agreement between the PUK and KDP that says that if one party holds the regional presidency then the other should have the national one. This may need to be renegotiated, Asrad notes.
Out in federal Iraq itself, some Iraqi MPs have already said they’d support the idea of Barzani becoming Iraq’s president.
After Barzani’s recent visit to Baghdad where he met with Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and where the pair demonstrated notably warmer relations, some reports in the Kurdish media said that al-Maliki had already asked Barzani to nominate himself for the Iraqi presidency and that in return, he expected Barzani to support his own ambitions to become Prime Minister for another term.
"In general terms, we have good relations with Barzani and the Kurdish and we would have no problem if Barzani was to become president,” Ali al-Shala, an MP for al-Maliki's State of Law party, told NIQASH. But, he added, that there was actually nothing concrete to report and that members of his party hadn’t discussed this matter at all, as far as he knew.
“Barzani’s strong personality makes him a good candidate for the job,” says Talal al-Zobaie, an MP for the opposition’s Iraqiya List. “He has the ability to work for all Iraqi political parties and he can play a major role in safeguarding the country’s interests.”
However there are others who think Barzani is unsuitable because he has been openly confrontational with the current central government, and those confrontations have verged on military.
Alia Nassif, an MP for the Iraqiya list, is one of these. She doesn’t think Barzani has any chance of getting Talabani’s job. “Talabani has an Iraqi identity,” Nassif explains. “He was representing all of Iraq. But Barzani can’t do that, he sees things only from the Kurdish point of view and from the point of view of his party. That’s why he’s not suitable to hold this position.”
And what do Barzani and his party think of all this rampant speculation? There’s no real indication – the only thing that is certain is that it hasn’t been mentioned in any serious way - yet.
Iraqi Kurdish MP Abdul Salam Barrawi told NIQASH he didn’t think it was uppermost in Barzani’s mind right now. “Barzani has said on several occasions that he doesn't want to go to Baghdad and that he only wants to serve Kurdistan," Barrawi says. He notes that it’s something that Barzani might start thinking seriously about once his current two years as Iraqi Kurdish President are up.
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