ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - President Masoud Barzani met with former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Erbil on Saturday, discussing efforts to expedite the formation of Iraq’s new government following the recent parliamentary elections.

Maliki arrived in Erbil on Saturday morning upon an invitation from Barzani. He was received at Erbil International Airport by Fuad Hussein, Iraq’s foreign minister and senior official of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

He was later received in Pirmam by President Barzani.

The former Iraqi premier stressed the need to “continue joint efforts to expedite the formation of the government to meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people, enhance stability, and protect the democratic process,” according to a statement from his office on the meeting.

“Both sides exchanged congratulations on the occasion of the successful elections and the completion of the constitutional requirement,” the statement added.

Maliki’s visit reportedly aims to seek Barzani’s view on the Kurds’ demands for the next cabinet.

Iraq's 2025 parliamentary elections saw Maliki's State of Law Coalition win 29 seats in the legislature, third highest after Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani's Reconstruction and Development Alliance and the Sunni Taqadum Party.

The KDP, meanwhile, won 27 seats after surpassing a one-million-vote campaign target, becoming the first Kurdish party to achieve such a feat.

Maliki, who served as premier between 2006 and 2014, remains a strong force in Iraqi politics, having been a key pillar in the currently ruling Coordination Framework and having presided over multiple episodes of prickly relations between Baghdad and Erbil.

The Kurdistan Region’s financial disputes with the federal government are ongoing despite the signing of a landmark deal to resume Kurdish oil exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline in September, which had been halted for 30 months after a Paris-based arbitration court ruled that Ankara had violated a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing the KRG to export oil independently from Baghdad.

Baghdad has also repeatedly and strategically withheld the Region's civil servant salaries as a means of pressuring Erbil.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has repeatedly stated that Erbil demands its full share of the federal budget from Baghdad come 2026.

It has also called for the implementation of Article 140 of the constitution, which relates to territories whose administration is disputed between the KRG and the federal government.

Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution mandates a process to outline a clear and definitive boundary in the disputed areas by introducing a referendum to determine the will of the residents living on the lands. The implementation of the article has been continuously delayed by the Iraqi government.