ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A political bureau member of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on Saturday said that they have agreed with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to resume parliament sessions in September, kickstarting the government formation process.

The Kurdistan Region held parliamentary elections in October 2024, and the elected lawmakers were sworn in during a session in December. However, efforts to hold subsequent sessions have failed due to not meeting legal quorum.

KDP politburo member Ali Hussein said that the KDP and the PUK –the main victors from the October election- have agreed to hold fresh sessions next month and elect a new speaker of parliament.

“The steps to form the government indeed took a lot of time but good steps have been taken,” Hussein told reporters.

By law, the MPs 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. Mohammed Sulaiman, the parliament’s acting speaker, resigned from the post in January, citing failure to hold sessions.

A parliament speaker is elected by a 50+1 majority vote of the legislature. Once the speaker is sworn in, the term of the president comes to an end, and a 30-day window is allotted for candidates to apply for the position.

The president of the Kurdistan Region must be elected by a two-thirds majority vote, who will then elect and task the next prime minister to form the upcoming Council of Ministers.

The KDP and the PUK emerged as the main parties from the October 2024 elections, gaining 39 and 23 seats respectively. The two parties have engaged in negotiations over forming the next Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cabinet since.

Negotiating delegations of the KDP and the PUK met on Thursday at the latter’s politburo in Erbil. In a joint statement after the meeting, the two parties stressed that cooperation regarding their shared vision for the “next phase” of governance in the Kurdistan Region has seen “major development.”

“Both sides agreed on the need to intensify serious efforts for the sixth term of the Kurdistan [Region's] parliament to start its regular and legislative duties and activities in September, and the next steps of forming the new government cabinet must continue,” read the statement.