New KRG formation talks: KDP to meet with PUK, Gorran on Saturday

The winner of the Kurdistan Region’s Sep. 30 parliamentary election, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), on Saturday, said it would separately meet with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Gorran (Change) Movement in Sulaimani to discuss the formation of the new Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The winner of the Kurdistan Region’s Sep. 30 parliamentary election, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), on Saturday, said it would separately meet with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Gorran (Change) Movement in Sulaimani to discuss the formation of the new Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

“Tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018), a delegation from the KDP will visit the politburo of the PUK in Sulaimani,” Karwan Yarwayis, a PUK official, said in a statement.

He mentioned the two parties would be discussing the latest political developments in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.

In another statement, Nasraddin Mahmoud, a member of Gorran’s National Assembly, stated that his party would receive the KDP delegates in Sulaimani, where Gorran will express its views and conditions if it is to participate in the formation of the new KRG cabinet.

The KDP, which is led by Masoud Barzani and held 38 seats in the Kurdistan’s 111-seat parliament prior to the election, increased its number of seats to 45 on Sep. 30.

The PUK, which won 18 seats in the 2013 election, came in second place, securing 21 seats in the recent election.

Gorran held 25 seats, but in the 2018 election, their number of seats dropped to 12, halving their 2013 gains.

The KDP has affirmed nothing is off limit for parties to negotiate over the formation of the new KRG cabinet, but would not accept parties that would try to maintain a position in government and as opposition.

The leading party has also repeatedly stressed that the distribution of governmental posts would be based on the election results, unlike past cabinet compositions where the KDP handed a number of its positions to other parties to create a consensus.

Editing by Nadia Riva