Iraq's President Jalal Talabani is not likely to seek another term when his mandate expires at the end of this year, a senior official from his party said today.
But Mr Talabani, who was born in 1933 and underwent heart surgery in the United States in August last year, will remain head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, said Fouad Masoum, a senior parliamentarian from the Kurdish alliance.
"It doesn't mean he will give up his political life. It just means he will not go for the presidential post," he told Reuters. "He wants to take a rest."
Mr Talabani, a Kurd, has been president since 2005. Although he does not wield executive power in Iraq, his role is seen as critical in maintaining the country's delicate ethnic balance.
His two vice presidents are a Shia and a Sunni Arab.
Their mandates expire at the end of December, when Iraq holds parliamentary polls that could radically alter the power balance in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition government.
Parliament elects the three-member Presidency Council.
Mr Masoum said Mr Talabani's role as broker between Iraq's often fractious ethnic and sectarian groups had worn him out.
"That task is very tough ... working with all Iraqi parties and trying to bring together their diverse viewpoints," Mr Masoum said, adding Mr Talabani's decision was not final.
Reuters
