Iraq's parliament on Saturday postponed once again a session to elect the country's new president over a lack of quorum.
It comes as a setback to an alliance led by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr which won the election.
Sadr had hoped parliament would elect Rebar Ahmed, a veteran Kurdish intelligence official and current interior minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.
But the lack of a quorum, set at two-thirds of the house's 329 members, held up the vote for the second time since February, deepening war-scarred Iraq's political uncertainty.
Biden administration s policy in the Middle East is one of treading water vestnikkavkaza.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from vestnikkavkaza.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Biden administration is trying to convince its Arab allies that the United States, despite appearances to the contrary, is not fed up with the region and headed for the doors.
It is a tough sell. At a meeting Saturday in Bahrain that comes on the eve of global talks meant to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin faced tough questions about how Arab allies were supposed to deal with the whiplash of an American national security policy that upends itself every four to eight years with a new president.
The defense secretary faced tough questions about how countries were supposed to deal with a U.S. national security policy that upends itself with each president.