ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) on Tuesday held what they called “the last meeting” of their joint negotiation committee for talks on forming the next Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cabinet, announcing that they had struck “initial agreements.”

In a joint statement, the parties said that the meetings had been “intensive” and included “constructive discussions regarding joint work in the next phase of governance.”

“During the meeting, common understandings and initial agreements were reached on most of the issues and the results of the meetings will be submitted to the High Negotiating Committee of both sides, for decision-making,” the statement added.

After a two-year delay and months of wrangling, the Kurdistan Region held its parliamentary elections on October 20, 2024.

The KDP and the PUK emerged as the first and second largest parties from the October polls, gaining 39 and 23 seats respectively. The two parties appear poised to form the government, as most of the other parties have already declared their opposition. 

The Kurdistan Region’s newly-elected members of parliament were sworn in early December, officially commencing their legislative duties. By law, the lawmakers were supposed to elect a speaker during the first session, but the vote was not carried out due to failure to reach the legal quorum.

Another session to elect a speaker in late January also failed to reach the legal quorum, leading interim speaker Mohammed Sulaiman from the New Generation Movement to resign from the post.