KDP, PUK politburos to meet on Sunday

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan 24 has learned that the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) politburos will meet on Sunday in Erbil.

Meanwhile, a delegation of the KDP Political Bureau led by Fazil Mirani, the Secretary of the KDP Politburo, has started a round of visits to the Kurdistan Region political parties.

Today, Mirani met with the Kurdistan Justice Group, the Kurdistan Islamic Union, the Communist Party of Kurdistan, the Assyrian Democratic Movement and the Turkmen Front.

The main topic of their discussions were the upcoming Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections.

Tensions between the Region’s main partners in the Kurdistan Regional Government's ninth cabinet in recent months centered around administrative and financial management of Sulaimani, PUK’s stronghold.

The tensions led to a series of wars of words between the two sides. This led the PUK team to pull out of KRG cabinet sessions for six months.

Following a meeting between Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and his Deputy Qubad Jalal Talabani from the PUK, tensions began to wane, leading to the party's return to the Cabinet sessions on Sunday.

This week, the cabinet adopted the Restructuring Public Finances bill, in which all PUK concerns were addressed, including the collection of revenues in a centralized manner and redistribution of them proportionate to each of the four provinces’ populations.

The two parties on Monday welcomed the draft law and expressed their support for its implementation.

The normalization of ties between the two sides has been widely welcomed by the Region’s allies, including the US, UK, and the Netherlands.