ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Under the directive of President Masoud Barzani, a high-level Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) committee has been formed to begin talks with political parties aimed at “unifying positions” following the federal parliamentary election’s results. The committee held its first meeting on Wednesday with the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU).

Iraq held parliamentary elections on November 11. The results displayed a significant victory for the KDP, which secured 27 seats and became the first Iraqi and Kurdish political party in history to surpass one million votes. 

The committee has been formed to visit political parties with the aim of “unifying the position of political forces and parties that participated in the elections,” KDP said in a statement on Wednesday. 

The committee held its first meeting on Wednesday with the KIU political bureau to coordinate and discuss efforts to build a “collective consensus on events, developments, and the political process in Iraq,” according to the statement.

The committee consists of KDP senior members Hoshyar Zebari, Pshtiwan Sadiq, and Ali Hussein.

The KDP has repeatedly stressed that its main objective in participating in the next Iraqi government and parliament is to ensure the implementation of constitutional Articles that guarantee the rights of the Kurdistan Region and  its people.

Iraq’s constitution has long fueled disputes between Erbil and Baghdad, with both sides offering different interpretations of significant articles and Baghdad often failing to implement key provisions such as Article 140 on disputed territories.

The constitution also formed the basis of a long-standing budgetary dispute between Erbil and Baghdad, as independent interpretations of its provisions led the Kurdistan Region to seek more control over its resources and sell oil independently of Baghdad in 2014, resulting in punitive measures and economic sanctions from the federal government on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the years that followed.

The Kurdistan Region held its parliamentary elections in October 2024, with the KDP emerging victorious with 39 seats, followed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) with 23. The two main parties have yet to reach an agreement on forming the next cabinet.

The KDP has routinely blamed the PUK for hindering the formation of the next government, accusing the rival party of making unreasonable demands.

On November 19, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said KDP will negotiate the formation of the Kurdistan Region’s next government with the PUK under new terms after its victory in the Iraqi election.