Agendas of future Iraqi government our only concern: Masrour Barzani

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Economic reform, reconciliation and political stability in Iraq were among points Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) Chancellor Masrour Barzani, and US Ambassador to Iraq Douglas Silliman discussed in a meeting on Monday.

According to a readout the KRSC released, the officials “engaged on a wide range of issues with a particular focus on the formation of the next Iraqi government.”

“So that in the future Iraqi government, the Kurdistan Region has an active role in achieving its wants and desires,” Barzani said, “there is an ongoing effort to create a coalition and to agree on a common agenda by the [Kurdish] political entities.”

“For us, the agendas of the future government are important, not who takes the post of Prime Minister,” the KRSC Chancellor added.

The meet comes a day after a fire tore througha warehouse in the al-Rusafa district in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad that the electoral commission used to store May 12 ballot boxes containing votes from the region.

Before the fire, the Iraqi Parliament passed a law on Wednesday mandating the manual recount of ballots across the country, canceling a portion of the votes, and replacing the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), the entity tasked with ensuring a fair election, with nine judges.

In another part of the meeting, Barzani and Silliman reiterated that parties who doubt the results of the election should employ “legal mechanisms” to assuage those concerns.

“The decision [Parliament’s law] to cancel the early votes in the Kurdistan Region is an infringement of the rights of voters, and unjust,” the KRSC Chancellor stated.

Silliman emphasized it is beneficial for both sides that Erbil and Baghdad further develop bilateral relations through peaceful talks that resolve disagreements.

During a campaign rally in May ahead of the election day,Barzani addressed a crowd of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) supporters, stating the next war in the country would be “the war on the implementation of the provisions of the Iraqi Constitution and the realizations of the rights of the people of Kurdistan.”

The words are a reference to the as of yet unimplemented Articles of the constitution that address the concerns of the Kurdish people.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany