Despite the agreement signed by KDP and PUK recently, there haven’t been any serious developments on the Kirkuk Governorate, the Ministry in Baghdad, the Regional Presidency or the Government and KDP has continued to work according to their own program.

The agreement was signed by Kosret Ali Resul and Nechirvan Barzani. PUK still didn’t attend the parliamentary session held 3 days ago, after the signing of the agreement.
The same day, two party’s officials met in Hewler. An official who attended the meeting but wishes to remain anonymous said the meeting was extremely tense.

The source said Lahore Sheikh Cengi Talabani left the meeting due to the high tension and harsh arguments and added that despite the agreement on the new government, the governorate of Kirkuk, the ministry in Baghdad and the regional presidency, the agreement is not working.

KDP IMPLEMENTS THEIR OWN PROGRAM

After PUK and KDP signed an agreement, KDP continued to implement their own program. In a recent parliamentary session PUK boycotted, legislative and working commissions were elected. The New Generation Movement demanded a commission chair be given to them, which caused a stir and the group was kicked out.
Despite the agreement, KDP also plans to elect the Regional President in the coming period. KDP MP Zana Mela Halid spoke about the issue and said the Kurdistan Regional President will be elected in late March and the candidate Prime Minister will be tasked with forming a government in early April.

PRESIDENCY ACT TO ACTIVATE?

Zana Mela Halid said they will handle the amendment to the Kurdistan Presidency Act by the end of March and added: “After the Kurdistan Regional President is elected, by early April the candidate prime minister will be tasked with forming a government. By the end of April we expect the issues on forming the new government will be resolved.”
In order to form a Kurdistan government, first the Kurdistan Presidential Act has to be updated and activated, and the President of Kurdistan has to be elected.

KDP Spokesperson Mehmud Mihemed issued a statement on the matter and said the 9th Government Cabinet to be formed, the Kurdistan Regional President has to be elected and added that they want the Kurdistan Presidential Act to be activated before Newroz.
Mehmud Mihemed said: “If the Presidential Act is activated, the President will be elected by the parliament and then the new cabinet can be formed faster. Other parties have different ideas on the authority of the president. We will knock on everybody’s door for the writing of certain articles in the Kurdistan Constitution. But first, an assessment needs to be made by parties on how the Kurdistan regional president will be elected and what their authority will include.”

The statements point to KDP implementing the program they foresaw and that they want to do so even though PUK is not attending the parliamentary sessions.

IS IT POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE PUK?

Politics experts and observers in Bashur are in deep discussions on the matter and seem to generally think KDP cannot do this without agreeing with PUK. The general idea is that KDP is trying to pull PUK towards their own conditions and if PUK accepts, they will lose influence in the region and won’t even be able to govern Sulaimaniyah.