ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) will start negotiations on the distribution of positions in the new cabinet early next month, a PUK official said on Saturday.
“The matter of positions will be discussed after Eid,” Luqman Wardi, a PUK leadership member, told Rudaw.
The Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, this year falls in the final days of March.
Wardi said that the negotiating committee of delegations from the two parties has agreed on a “common vision project” for the next government and that has been presented to the party leaders.
“After Eid, when the committee reconvenes and discusses the distribution of positions, this project will be signed to become the foundation for governance in the Kurdistan Region over the next four years,” he said.
Wardi noted that regional developments have been taken into consideration in their months of negotiations. “Changes in the political map of the region require us to organize our ranks and try to face future challenges with a unified political discourse,” he said.
Several major geopolitical shifts are taking place in the Middle East, with the Kurdistan Region a key player in peace talks between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish state, as well as discussions between Kurdish rival parties in Syria who are negotiating with the new authorities in Damascus.
In Iraq, Erbil’s relationship with Baghdad is evolving with the federal government exerting more control over matters like the Kurdistan Regional Government’s payroll and its oil sector.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, who is also a deputy KDP leader, met with PUK leader Bafel Talabani in Erbil on Sunday. Both sides said that they had made “very good” progress in the government formation process.
The Kurdistan Region held delayed parliamentary elections in October. The KDP came out on top, securing 39 spots in the 100-member legislature. The PUK came in second with 23 seats. Since no single party won a majority, a governing coalition will need to be formed, as has traditionally been the case.
