The president of the Federal Kurdistan Region, Mesut Barzani, has announced that the new political and presidential elections are to be held on September 21.

The Region’s last presidential and parliamentary elections were held in the July of 2009.

Political parties are divided over whether Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani can run for a third four-year term. Barzani has not announced whether he will be a candidate in the polls. But his Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) says that there are ways around the constitutional clauses limiting the presidency to two terms.