KDP, PUK top-level delegations meet to discuss new cabinet, Baghdad disputes

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region’s ruling parties met on Monday in Erbil, with Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Bafel Talabani leading the talks alongside other senior officials to discuss cabinet formation and disputes with Baghdad.

Rudaw has learned that both the KDP and PUK have prepared draft proposals regarding the formation of the new Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which are to be presented during the meeting.

The Region held its long-delayed parliamentary election in October. The KDP won 39 out of 100 seats, followed by the PUK with 23.

KDP deputy leaders - Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani and Prime Minister Masrour Barzani - also attended the meeting, alongside senior PUK official Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani.

In late June, Prime Minister Barzani said the KDP and PUK had reached an agreement on a cabinet agenda and reiterated that the door remains open for other parties to join. However, nearly nine months since the vote, a final agreement on forming the new cabinet has yet to be reached.

A source from the PUK’s politburo, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Rudaw that the parties are also expected to discuss the upcoming federal parliamentary election and Baghdad-Erbil relations.

Tensions between Erbil and Baghdad escalated in late May when Iraq’s federal finance ministry halted all budget transfers to the KRG, accusing it of receiving more than its 12.67 percent share of the 2025 budget and failing to deliver the agreed oil quota to the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO). The move has left over 1.2 million public sector employees unpaid for more than two months.

On Saturday, the KDP warned it was giving Baghdad a “final opportunity” to resolve the salary dispute.

The party said that Fuad Hussein, Iraq’s foreign minister and a senior KDP official, had spoken with political parties in Baghdad and returned to the Region with a message that officials in the capital had promised to resolve the matter “in the coming few days.”

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