Braving Rocket Attack, Iraqi MPs Elect New State President

Presidential candidate Abdel Latif Rashid attends a parliamentary session to vote for a new head of state president in Baghdad, Iraq, October 13, 2022. (Iraqi Parliament Media Office/Handout via Reuters)

Despite a rocket attack on Baghdad's Green Zone, Iraqi lawmakers Thursday elected a new president in hopes of ending a year of political gridlock and violence in the war-scarred nation.

Iraqi Kurd Abdel Latif Rashid, 78, was elected as the new Iraqi head of state, replacing Barham Salih, by the assembly in the capital's heavily fortified government and diplomatic district.