A special session of the Council of Representatives (Parliament) of Iraq to elect a new president of the country will be held after the spring holiday Navruz, which this year is celebrated from March 20, said the representative of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan Majid Shankali, TASS reported.

The parliamentary session, which will vote on the candidacy of the new president of Iraq, will take place after the end of the Navruz holiday, said Shankali, quoted by the Iraqi news portal SHAFAQ News. He added that most likely, the meeting of the Council of Representatives to elect the Iraqi president of the country will take place on March 26 or 27.

Last week, Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Shahwan Abdallah said that the parliamentary council had received the names of forty candidates for the presidency. The meeting of the Council of Representatives to elect the head of the republic, he added, will take place after checking all candidates by the relevant authorities.

The main contenders for the post of Iraqi president are the incumbent head of state Barham Saleh, who was nominated by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and Reber Ahmed, who is running for the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

In early February, the Council of Representatives failed to vote and elect a president due to the lack of a quorum, as the country's leading political forces, determined by the results of last year's early parliamentary elections, boycotted a special meeting of the Iraqi parliament.