ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A committee from the Iraqi parliament is set to visit Erbil next week in an effort to persuade the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) bloc to end its boycott of the legislature following disputes over the country’s presidential appointment.

On April 18, the KDP announced that it will boycott all future sessions of the Iraqi parliament indefinitely, in light of the legislature’s decision to proceed with the Iraqi presidential election despite the absence of a national consensus. 

"The Iraqi parliamentary delegation is scheduled to visit Erbil next week to meet with the leadership and members of the KDP's bloc," Zirak Zebari, a member of the KDP's parliamentary bloc, told The New Region on Friday.

A number of lawmakers from various Sunni and Shiite blocs have joined the delegation, including Yousif al-Kilabi, Mahmoud Falah Saeed, Hassan Qasim al-Khafaji, Khalid al-Khalidi, Faisal al-Issawi, and Nasr Awadi, according to information obtained by The New Region.

The list is not yet finalized and is expected to grow.

Earlier in the week, a source from the KDP confirmed to The New Region that efforts are underway in Baghdad to send a delegation to the Kurdistan Region in an effort to convince the party to return to parliament sessions. 

Earlier in April, the KDP, the State of Law Coalition, and the Hoquq Movement boycotted the session where Iraq’s new president was elected, citing continued disputes and the absence of a unified position on who should assume the key role.

During the session, Nizar Amedi of the rivaling Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) was elected for the top post.

The KDP at the time rejected the mechanism by which Amedi was elected for the presidency, a post traditionally reserved for Kurds, saying his nomination had been pushed forward by a single Kurdish party and other Iraqi components and was not a unanimous Kurdish pick.

Since 2005, the Iraqi presidency has always been held by a member of the PUK, despite the KDP consistently outperforming its rival in both the Iraqi and Kurdistan elections.

Since the November elections, the KDP has repeatedly stressed that the presidency is not reserved for any single party and should be decided based on electoral entitlements.

The two Kurdish ruling parties failed to reach a unanimous candidate for the presidency after months of negotiations following the elections.