KDP, Gorran in Talks Amid Discussions on Kurdistan’s Next Government
The KDP’s Nechirvan Barzani, the incumbent prime minister who has been tasked by the president and his party to form a new cabinet, announced the meeting at a news conference on Saturday, but did not say the talks would over the next government.
According to the premier, the two leaders will be discussing the latest situation in the Kurdistan Region and relations between Baghdad and Erbil.
“Mustafa has been invited as the head of a political party not as an opposition leader and the leaders of all other parties can meet with the president whenever they want,” said Barzani, in response to a question by Rudaw about the purpose of the meeting.
He said he had invited Mustafa to the meeting with the president during talks last week in Sulaimani.
In the September parliamentary elections the KDP won the majority of the votes, retaining its dominance in parliament, while Gorran came second.
On Wednesday, Gorran announced it has officially decided on partnership in Barzani’s next cabinet.
“Gorran wants to join a broad-based government with all other parties,” the party’s Sheikh Jangi Salayi told Rudaw. He said the movement has yet to discuss details of its participation, but that in principle it is ready to join the government.
Barzani, who served as prime minister for two years from 2011, is the KDP’s candidate for the post for another term. He spent the past week discussing the formation of the next government with leaders of the other political parties.
Gorran was formed in 2009 after breaking away from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). In the September 21 elections for the Kurdish parliament, Gorran unseated old rival PUK as the enclave’s second-largest party.
RUDAW
