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. "President Talabani has suffered a light stroke. His condition is stable now and doctors are closely monitoring him and if they decide he should be transferred outside then he'll go," veteran Kurdish politician Mahmoud Othman, a close Talabani associate who was in the Baghdad hospital.
Talabani had been suffering from ill health much of this year and received medical treatment overseas several times in the last two years. 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 Shia 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. "He is the most moderate among Iraqi politicians and the most able to defuse political shocks. I do not think any one will be able to fill his position as a president and as a politician," Iraqi analyst Ibrahim al-Sumaidaie said.
Iraq law would see one of the vice presidents take over Talabani's duties before the parliamentary vote. But Iraq's Sunni Vice President, Tareq 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.