KDP Rejects Iraqi Presidential Election Process, Citing Procedural Violations and Kurdish Consensus Breach

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — The Politburo of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) issued a strongly worded statement late Saturday rejecting the process used to elect the President of the Republic within the Iraqi Council of Representatives, accusing parliamentary leadership of violating internal bylaws and disregarding agreed Kurdish mechanisms.

In its statement addressed to “the citizens of Kurdistan and Iraq,” the KDP said the presidential election session held (on April 11, 2026) was conducted in a manner “outside the approved internal bylaws of the council.”

The party noted that the Presidency of the Council of Representatives set the meeting agenda without proper adherence to parliamentary rules, describing the move as a breach of legal procedure.

The KDP further argued that the nomination process for the presidency had bypassed what it described as an agreed Kurdish mechanism for selecting a consensus candidate.

It stressed that the position of President of the Republic represents an entitlement of the people of Kurdistan collectively, rather than any single political party.

According to the statement, the candidate ultimately put forward for the post was selected by one Kurdish party and supported by several parties from other Iraqi components, a process the KDP rejected as illegitimate.

“We reject this method of election, and we do not recognize anyone chosen in this manner as a representative of the Kurdish majority, and we will not deal with him,” the statement said.

The KDP confirmed that its parliamentary bloc boycotted the session in protest. It added that following the boycott, the party’s candidate should have been removed from the electoral process.

The statement further noted that, in response to the developments, both the KDP’s blocs in the Iraqi Council of Representatives and within the federal government are returning to the Kurdistan Region for consultations to assess the situation.

The announcement signals renewed political tension between Kurdish factions and federal institutions in Baghdad over power-sharing arrangements and the procedures governing senior state appointments.

In a related development, late Friday, the KDP Parliamentary Faction in the Iraqi Council of Representatives issued a sharply worded statement criticizing the process leading up to the presidential election session.

The statement warned that proceeding with attempts to convene the session to elect the President of the Republic without returning to the principles of consensus and partnership represents, in its view, a “blatant disregard” for the spirit of national partnership and a “dangerous retreat” from the constitutional understandings underpinning Iraq’s political system.

The KDP faction further stressed that the presidency and the nomination of the prime minister should be treated as an “inseparable national package,” insisting that both positions must be agreed upon through comprehensive dialogue and genuine political consensus rather than unilateral moves or the exclusion of key political partners.

Based on this position, the faction confirmed it had decided to boycott the parliamentary session, warning that any step taken without broad agreement would further complicate the political landscape and push the country toward an uncertain and potentially unstable future.

Over the years, the process of selecting Iraq’s presidency—traditionally regarded as a position allocated to the Kurdish component under the country’s post-2003 power-sharing understandings—has repeatedly been marked by disputes over adherence to consensus-based arrangements, with Kurdish political parties arguing that ruling coalitions in Baghdad have at times circumvented established norms by advancing candidates without unified Kurdish endorsement, a pattern that has fueled recurring tensions over political representation, federal balance, and the integrity of agreed mechanisms for senior state appointments.