Who is Abdul Latif Rashid, the newly-elected president of Iraq?

The Iraqi Parliament has elected Abdul Latif Rashid, 78, a Kurdish British-educated engineer and former minister, as the country’s new president, taking a step towards forming a new government and ending a crippling deadlock.

Following the election of the president, nominee for prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, will be able to form a government. Sudani, a former human rights and labour minister, will have to present his cabinet choices to the Parliament within 30 days.

Rashid received over 160 votes in the second round of voting against fellow Iraqi Kurd Barham Salih who gained 99 votes. Eight votes were considered invalid, IANS reported quoting the media office of the parliament.

The election of the president started less than an hour after Katyusha rockets struck Baghdad's Green Zone, where the Parliament is based. The rockets hit other areas of Baghdad, including near the train station. By night time in Iraq, no one had claimed responsibility for the attacks, The New York Times reported.

Rashid was born in 1944 in the northeastern Sulaymaniyah region of Iraq. He graduated as a civil engineer from the University of Liverpool in 1968. He went on to complete his engineering doctorate in 1976 from the University of Manchester.

Rashid has a long history in Iraqi politics. He served as the minister of water resources from 2003 to 2010 and then as the senior adviser to the President. He can speak speaks Kurdish, Arabic and English, Al Jazeera reported.

Rashid is a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party. He was also the former spokesperson for the PUK in Britain.

Although the veteran Kurdish politician is considered accommodating, he is seen as a compromise candidate for the polarised country, AFP reported.

The move to elect him president comes when pro-Iranian Shia forces have been pushing to form a government.

According to the Iraqi political norm since 2006, a Kurd is elected as president of the country, while a Shia takes the role of prime minister. A Sunni will head the parliament.