ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Bafel Talabani on Tuesday downplayed talks of forming the Kurdistan Region’s next cabinet without the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), amid ongoing talks with the New Generation Movement (NGM). 

Asked if they intend to form the Kurdistan Region's next government cabinet without the KDP, after a Tuesday meeting with NGM leader Shaswar Abdulwahid, Talabani said "that has never been the agenda," without elaborating further. 

Abdulwahid, who described the meeting as an "inclusive" one, said that they discussed the formation of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq’s governments.

The NGM leader, contrary to Talabani's remarks, said in a press conference after the meeting: "Ok now we say, we and the PUK have 40 seats ... if [Kurdistan Justice Group] Komal and the [Kurdistan Islamic Union] KIU, come [to join us], we would have 50+1," the majority required to form a government in the Kurdistan Region's parliament.  

The contrasting remarks by the two leaders come after several meetings between the two parties. The PUK, meanwhile, continues to hold talks with the KDP - the Kurdistan Region's largest party with 39 seats. PUK and NGM, on the other hand, have a combined footprint of 38 seats in the parliament. 

The two parties announced an alliance after a meeting between Talabani and Abdulwahid in mid-January, with the aim of challenging the KDP's powerful edge in the parliament, regarding the formation of the new Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cabinet.

Speaking to reporters at the time, Talabani stated, “In principle, yes, why not” when asked whether the PUK and NGM can form a government without the KDP.

The PUK and NGM have been fierce rivals in Sulaimani for years. The recent developments come shortly after Abdulwahid was released from prison after serving five months on defamation charges.

Traditionally, the KDP and the PUK have run the KRG side by side, despite the KDP consistently outperforming its rival in both regional and federal elections.
 
The New Region has learned that the KDP has offered the PUK several top posts during their negotiations over the past year, including the parliamentary speakership, but the PUK has continued to make “unreasonable” demands, according to well-informed sources from the KDP.