ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has told the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) that it would pursue alternative routes of forming the next regional government, should the PUK not agree on a settlement by the time the Iraqi parliamentary elections are held in November. 

The New Region has learned that the KDP, as the victor of the elections with 39 out of a total of 100 seats, has offered second-place PUK with 29 seats, several important posts within the cabinet. The positions include parliament speaker, deputy prime minister, and deputy president, as well as several ministries, including the finance and Peshmerga ministries, among others.

The KDP has notified its rivals that should the two parties fail to reach common ground, it will opt for forming the next Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) with other parties and components. 

The Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections were held exactly a year ago on October 20, 2024. Despite several meetings between the two election winners and major progress in finding shared views for the government’s agenda and programs, the KDP and PUK have yet to reach an agreement on the distribution of posts.

A “final draft” outlining the formation of the cabinet was reached between the two parties on March 18, which has been followed by multiple rounds of talks since between them.

In late September, the two parties met at the leadership level when the KDP received the PUK’s leadership, including PUK leader Bafel Talabani in Pirmam. The meeting, chaired by KDP President Masoud Barzani, and attended by Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and President Nechirvan Barzani, saw discussions around the formation of the new cabinet among an array of regional developments. 

The two sides met once more at the executive level in late April, when Prime Minister Barzani met Talabani in Dukan, prior to which sources told The New Region that the meetings would be decisive and would see discussions around “the distribution of posts.”