ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) official said they are working on forming an alliance with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), with the focus particularly being on the disputed areas for Iraq’s November parliamentary elections.

The KDP and PUK’s bid to form a strong united front in disputed territories is to expand Kurdish leverage on issues of national significance and increase Kurdish representation in Baghdad.

“The politburo met, and it was ordered that the election bureau should meet with that of the PUK to hold talks around the subject of running a joint electoral list in the Iraqi parliamentary elections,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The New Region.

"We are ready to form an alliance both across the Kurdistan Region and the Kurdistani territories outside the Kurdistan Region's administration," the source said, adding that "our focus will be on the Kurdistani territories more."

The KDP and PUK emerged in the Kurdistan Region’s October parliamentary elections as the two winners, gaining 39 and 23 seats respectively. The two sides are holding post-distribution and government formation talks separately in the meantime.

The Kurdistan Region’s Prime Minister and KDP Deputy President Masrour Barzani, during the April Sulaimani Forum, had stressed the importance of ensuring and unifying the Kurdish stance in the Iraqi parliament, regardless of whether or not the parties form alliances or run separately.

The Iraqi Council of Ministers voted to set November 11 as the date for holding parliamentary elections in early April, with more than 29 million voters eligible to cast their ballots.