PUK appoints senior officials in long-overdue congress, to elect leader Monday
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s second-largest political party on Saturday held its long-overdue fourth congress in the city of Sulaimani to elect its leader and other governing council officials in a three-day event.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) had scheduled for the process to take place in 2013, but saw repeated delays due to internal divisions, especially after the health of its former leader, the late Jalal Talabani, deteriorated in 2012.
Disputes continued after Talabani’s passing in late 2017. Earlier this year, however, the party’s leadership said a congress would be held without further postponements.
The first day of the event saw an estimated 1,000 PUK members gathering at the Sulaimani International Fair Hall at 11 a.m. local time. Rizgar Ali, a senior party official, said the congress would be one of “renewal.”
Politburo members, by a majority vote, elected Kosrat Rasul Ali as the President of the Supreme Political Council (SPC). Ali was formerly the first deputy of the PUK head and acting leader after Talabani fell ill.
The congress also appointed, without a vote, Barham Salih, Rewaz Fayaq, and Qubad Talabani as members of PUK’s 121-member General Leadership Council (GLC). This was reportedly due to the fact all three hold senior government posts.
Salih is the Iraqi President, Fayaq is the Kurdistan Region Parliament Speaker, and Qubad Talabani is Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region.
On Sunday, the meeting elected the members of the influential eight-member SPC. The names, according to local media Xendan, were Mala Bakhtiyar, Hero Ibrahim Ahmed – the wife of late leader Jalal Talabani – Omer Fatah, Adnan Mufti, Hakim Qadir, Arsalan Baiyz, Dler Said Majeed, and Sheikh Jaafar Sheikh Mustafa.
On Monday, the congress is expected to vote for the remaining members of the GLC, which would, in turn, elect the party’s leader, according to senior party official Mala Yasin who spoke during a press briefing following Sunday’s gathering.
The Monday meeting is expected to begin at 9 a.m. local time.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany