Masoud Barzani: Kurdistan Region’s right to select candidates in next Iraqi gov. must be respected

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The President of the leading Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Masoud Barzani, expressed his concern in an announcement on Wednesday about the mechanisms Iraq’s Prime Minister-designate is using to form a new government.

In a statement Barzani’s office released, the KDP leader said Iraq’s Prime Minister-designate Mohammad Tawfiq Allawi’s mechanism and plan to select candidates for the new Iraqi government’s ministerial posts ignore the rights and demands of the different factions, minorities, especially the rights of the people of the Kurdistan Region.

The senior Kurdish leader warned that such a move would “lead to the expansion of the crisis Iraq is facing,” the statement said.   

According to the statement, “Barzani does not consider the names of the ministerial nominees a priority, but rather the dedication of all sides in implementing the principles of partnership, balance, and solidarity in the next government.”

“The Kurdistan Region has the right to nominate its candidates for the ministerial posts, the same right which allowed certain political blocs to nominate Mohammad Tawfiq Allawi to the post of Iraq’s Prime Minister,” it added.

“The Kurdistan Region’s rights to select its candidates must be respected.”         

Last week, Allawi announced he had formed his “independent” cabinet and called on the national parliament to hold an extraordinary session to vote on it. The names of ministers to form the new government were published on Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, disputes have plagued Allawi's nomination as protesters have rejected him, and Kurdish and Iraqi Sunni politicians have criticized him for an apparent sidelining of their leaders.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany