By HEVIDAR AHMED

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Leaders of the dominant Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) say that a “new framework” will be used to speed up the long-delayed new government, nearly five months after elections.

Following a meeting of the KDP leadership with President Massoud Barzani, who is president of the KDP and the Kurdistan Region, a new framework was agreed to make-up the new cabinet and distribute government positions, party officials said.

“We have found the key to solve the problems of forming the next government,” the KDP’s politburo spokesman said, without revealing details of the new framework.

Lack of progress on forming the next cabinet, nearly five months after elections, forced Barzani to intervene and meet the enclave’s three main parties.

He met with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Change Movement (Gorran) and his own KDP, which won the September 21 elections and is in charge of forming the new government.

The PUK accuses KDP of delaying the formation of the new cabinet. They have even announced that they will not remain silent should the formation of the new government last longer. The PUK also insists that it has the right to occupy the posts of deputy prime minister.

“Whoever is nominated to be the next deputy prime minister has to be approved by (Prime Minister) Nechirvan Barzani, because they are going to work together,” Fazil Mirani, the KDP’s politburo secretary, told Rudaw.

“Everything was discussed, the formation of the government, Baghdad situation, the internal situation of the Kurdistan Region and the KDP. But the process of government formation was discussed more than any other topic,” KDP spokesman Jaffar Eminki told Rudaw after his party’s meeting with President Barzani on Monday.

Before that meeting, Barzani first held talks with Gorran and PUK.

“It is not certain that we will meet the demands of political parties or that the end result will be what KDP desires,” Eminki said. “But we have set a framework to finalize the distribution of posts,” he explained, without revealing the agreed framework or providing any other information about the recent practical steps by KDP.

“We have discussed everything, but we will not announce it until we reach a concrete outcome,” Eminki added.

Eminki went on and said that in their meeting with the president of Kurdistan Region “the key to solve the problems of government formation and distribution of posts was found and with that key, disagreements over formation of the eighth cabinet will be sorted out.”

Hakim Qadir Hama Can, administrator of the PUK politburo, told Rudaw that in his party’s meeting with President Barzani, “We agreed to expedite the distribution of posts of the next cabinet and not to delay the formation of the government any longer.”

According to Rudaw sources, in the next meetings with Gorran and PUK, KDP will offer two proposals. Also, the KDP will not receive the ministries of finance and economy, but who they will go to remains undecided.

After the Kurdistan legislative election in which Gorran pushed PUK to the third place, relationships between KDP and PUK have soured a bit.

“In the last few days, the KDP politburo held several meetings in which the internal situation of our ally, PUK, was thoroughly discussed. PUK leaders have asked president Barzani to support PUK in overcoming its current internal crisis and president Barzani expressed his readiness to fully support PUK in any possible way,” Eminki added.

Sources tell Rudaw that Barham Salih, deputy secretary general of the PUK who had resigned from his post early this month, will be meeting with President Barzani.

Rudaw also has learned that the Islamic Republic of Iran and KDP are in contact with PUK to help the party overcome its current crises.


Rudaw