Initially scheduled for 11 am, the session of the Iraqi parliament began hours later when quorum was reached with 223 lawmakers in attendance.

The elections went to a second round after none of the candidates managed to obtain the required two-thirds majority to secure the post. Amedi bested the Kurdistan Islamic Union's (KIU) Muthanna Amin in the second round by scoring a majority of the vote, and was officially announced the country's next president, The New Region reported.

In January, the PUK nominated Nizar Amedi as the party’s candidate for the Iraqi presidency. The newly-elected president is a former Iraqi environment minister.

Nizar Mohammed Saeed Mohammed was born in 1968 in the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province and holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Mosul.

Amedi has held senior positions within the PUK, including head of its Baghdad political bureau. He previously served as environment minister from 2022 to 2024 and has acted as an adviser to former Iraqi presidents.

According to the Iraqi constitution, Amedi now has 15 days to task the prime ministerial nominee of the largest parliamentary bloc with the formation of the government.

The prime minister-designate is then charged with naming the members of his cabinet within thirty days, or they will be replaced by the president if the cabinet fails to be formed in a timely manner.