The vote in the Iraqi Parliament will take part one day after the parliamentary elections in the Federal Kurdistan Region.

Parliamentary President Muhamed al-Halbusi announced in a statement on Thursday that 7 candidates will run to replace the incumbent President Fuad Masum from the PUK. The 329 MPs elected in May will vote for the next President.

The first multi-party elections after the Saddam regime fell in Iraq were held in 2005. Since then, the office of the Presidency has always been given to a candidate from the PUK. The first President as part of this agreement was the historic leader of the PUK, Jalal Talabani.

Rival party KDP would get the Federal Kurdistan Region’s Presidency. But Masoud Barzani, whose term was renewed without elections, left the Presidency after the independence referendum in September 2017 and the Iraqi central government taking over the disputed territories. His post hasn’t been filled to date.

As new circumstances emerge in the region, KDP has put up their own candidate, Fuad Hussein, for the Presidency for the first time. PUK’s candidate Barham Salih is cited as the favorite. Four of the five other candidates are Kurdish, and the one candidate who isn’t is a Sunni Arab.

According to the Iraqi Constitution, the President must be determined before Wednesday. If none of the candidates can achieve a two thirds majority on Monday, there will be another session the next day.