IRAQ/FILE: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffers a stroke and is in a "critical but stable condition" in a Baghdad hospital, three government sources said
Record ID:
566402
IRAQ/FILE: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffers a stroke and is in a "critical but stable condition" in a Baghdad hospital, three government sources said
- Title: IRAQ/FILE: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffers a stroke and is in a "critical but stable condition" in a Baghdad hospital, three government sources said
- Date: 19th December 2012
- Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (AGENCY POOL) **CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY** WIDE OF U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON AND TALABANI AT MEETING CLOSE OF HILLARY CLINTON CLOSE OF TALABANI CLINTON AND TALABANI GET UP AND SHAKE HANDS
- Embargoed: 3rd January 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA5XXRXDFHIKWV30VNDMU4Y3PV2
- Story Text: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who has mediated among Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish parties, was sent to hospital on Tuesday (December 18) after suffering a stroke that left him in "critical but stable condition", government officials and lawmakers said.
Reports on his medical condition varied. Three government sources said he was in critical condition, but his office said the 79-year-old president was stable under intensive medical supervision after receiving treatment for blocked arteries.
Talabani had been suffering from ill health much of this year and received medical treatment overseas several times in the last two years.
Without Talabani, Iraq would lose an influential peace-maker who often eased tensions in the fragile power-sharing government and negotiated in the growing rift over oil between Baghdad and the OPEC member country's autonomous Kurdistan region.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visited the hospital earlier on Tuesday.
Under Iraq's constitution, the parliament should elect a new president if the post becomes vacant and Iraq's power-sharing deal calls for the presidency to go to a Kurd while two vice-presidents are shared by a Sunni Muslim and a Shi'ite Muslim.
Political analysts said former Kurdistan prime minister Barham Salih is favoured candidate to replace Talabani should the president be incapacitated.
But his exit from Iraqi politics would come at a sensitive time and any succession would be complicated, a year after the last American troops left the country.
Iraq law would see one of the vice presidents take over Talabani's duties before the parliamentary vote. But Iraq's Sunni Vice President, Tariq al-Hashemi, is a fugitive outside of the country after he fled to escape charges he ran death squads. He was sentenced to death in absentia.
Any parliament vote would also be complex, with Maliki locked in a struggle with Sunni, Kurdish and some Shi'ite rivals in the power-sharing government.
Talabani was crucial in helping the Shi'ite leader survive a no-confidence motion directed against him earlier this year.
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