Vice President of Iraq

Iraq
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Iraq
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Iraq has three vice presidents or deputy presidents, although a debate is ongoing about a political reform to abolish their posts.

The office of Vice-President was historically largely ceremonial but prestigious. In post-war Iraq, the Constitution of Iraq, in its "Transitional Guidelines," creates a three-member Presidency (or Presidential) Council, consisting of the President of the Republic and two deputy presidents, who must act in unison. The Presidency Council had three members to accommodate Iraq's three largest groups: Sunni Muslim Arabs, Shiite Muslim Arabs, and the mostly Sunni Kurds. As a unit, the Presidency Council was meant to symbolize the unity of the nation. This arrangement is required by the constitution to continue until the Council of Representatives, enters its second set of sessions. At this point, the Presidency Council would be replaced by a solitary President of the Republic, who would have only one deputy, the Vice-President. In any case, the Presidency is appointed by the Council of Representatives.

The three-member arrangement was a hold-over from the Iraqi interim government and the Iraqi Transitional Government.

On 13 May 2011, three vice-presidents were elected.^[1] On July 11, 2011, Adil Abdul-Mahdi resigned after he had presented his resignation to President Jalal Talabani on May 30, 2011. ^{[2] [3]}

On September 2014, three new Vice Presidents where elected: former Prime Ministers Nouri al-Maliki and Ayad Allawi and former Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi.

On August 11, 2015 the Council of Representatives approved the al Abadi government plan to abolish the posts of both Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister. ^[4] Later, Osama al-Nujaifi filed a complaint against the decision, considering it to be against the Constitution.^[5] Also Nuri al-Maliki promised to cling to his post.^[6] On 10 October 2016, the three posts of Vice President were restored by the Supreme Court of Iraq which deemed their abolition unconstitutional.^[7]

List of officeholders

Name		Portrait	Born-Died	Entered office	Left office	Political party
	Ibrahim al-Jaafari إبراهيم الجعفري		1947–	1 June 2004	7 April 2005	Islamic Dawa Party
	Rowsch Shaways روز نورى شاويس		1947–	1 June 2004	7 April 2005	Kurdistan Democratic Party
	Adil Abdul-Mahdi عادل عبد المهدي		1942–	7 April 2005	11 July 2011	Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq
	Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer غازي مشعل عجيل الياور		1958–	7 April 2005	22 April 2006	The Iraqis
	Tariq al-Hashimi طارق الهاشمي		1942–	22 April 2006	10 September 2012	Iraqi Islamic Party
	Khodair al-Khozaei		1947–	13 May 2011	9 September 2014	Islamic Dawa Party – Iraq Organisation
	Nouri al-Maliki نوري المالكي		1950–	9 September 2014	11 August 2015[8]	Islamic Dawa Party
	Osama al-Nujaifi		1956–	9 September 2014	11 August 2015	Muttahidoon
	Ayad Allawi أياد علاوي		1945–	9 September 2014	11 August 2015	Iraqi National Accord
Post abolished (000000002015-08-11-000011 August 2015–000000002016-10-10-000010 October 2016)
Post restored (000000002016-10-10-000010 October 2016–present)
	Nouri al-Maliki[9][10] نوري المالكي		1950–	10 October 2016[11]	Incumbent	Islamic Dawa Party
	Osama al-Nujaifi[12][13]		1956–	10 October 2016[11]	Incumbent	Muttahidoon
	Ayad Allawi[14][15] أياد علاوي		1945–	10 October 2016[11]	Incumbent	Iraqi National Accord

Vice-Presidents of Ba'athist Iraq

The Ba'athist regime of Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and Saddam Hussein also used the office of Vice President. However, the post was not as influential as the Vice Chairmen of the Revolutionary Command Council in Ba'athist Iraq. Vice Presidents were appointed at the discretion of the President.

References

See also

• List of current Vice Presidents