After being elected as the new president, Salih sworn in as the president of Iraq and told the lawmakers, “I will protect the unity of Iraq and its independence, and it is a great honour to be elected president of the Republic of Iraq.”

“I will be the president of Iraq and not for a certain group, entity or component,” Salih pledged. This content was published on October 2, 2018 7:56 PM

FILE PHOTO - Barham Salih, Former Prime Minister of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government and Head of the Coalition for Democracy and Justice speaks during an interview with Reuters in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq May 8, 2018. As a veteran Kurdish politician from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) political party, Barham Salih was running against his sole challenger from the Kurdistan Democratic Party's (KDP), Fuad Hussein, who withdrew from the second round of the vote after witnessing his 90 votes compared to Salih’s 165 in the first round. According to an informal power-sharing arrangement, Iraq’s senior posts are divided along with ethnic-sectarian lines - with the prime minister being a Shia Muslim, the parliament speaker a Sunni, and the presidency, a largely ceremonial role, is held by a Kurd. PM-designate Mahdi is a former vice president, oil minister and has even held finance ministry and now he has 30 days to form a cabinet and present it to parliament for approval.
The Council of Representatives of Iraq elects Barham Salih as president. Salih then appoints Adil Abdul al-Mahdi as prime minister.