ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) will take “steps” to end the political impasse that has shrouded the Kurdistan Region and prevented government formation for over 18 months, a senior party official said on Wednesday. 

The Kurdistan Region held parliamentary elections in October 2024, with the KDP emerging victorious with 39 seats, followed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) with 23. 

However, a crippling political impasse between Kurdistan’s two main parties has prevented the formation of a government, with both sides trading blame. Efforts to form the next Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), however, have accelerated since the formation of the new Iraqi cabinet. 

Pshtiwan Sadiq, a senior KDP member and current KRG minister of endowment and religious affairs, said that “steps will be taken” after Eid al-Adha to resume meetings, particularly between the KDP and PUK, toward forming the new cabinet.

“We are in constant contact and communication with the [other] parties and the PUK,” Sadiq told reporters. 

On Tuesday, President Masoud Barzani, leader of the KDP, called on the Kurdistan Region’s political parties to meet and end internal conflicts that have delayed the political process, to “cease the futile conflict and self-destruction that has burdened the political process in the Region.” 

“Just as President Barzani had a message yesterday for political parties to be unified … we can all move this political deadlock in the Kurdistan Region in a direction to comfort the people of Kurdistan, and reactivate our parliament,” Sadiq stressed. 

“We as the KDP are fully prepared to take practical steps toward” President Barzani’s message, Sadiq added, asserting that the message “requires translation to practical terms.” 

A key sticking point between the KDP and PUK has been top positions and sovereign ministries in the Kurdistan Region, particularly the interior ministry - a post the PUK is vying for.

The Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) – specifically its leader Salahaddin Bahaaddin – has led a renewed drive in recent days to arrange a meeting between the KDP and PUK. He has met with Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani – a deputy KDP president – and PUK leader Bafel Talabani in an effort to mediate tensions.

Saadi Ahmed Pira, a senior PUK member, told The New Region last week that the party is “open to dialogue and agreements” with the goal of reactivating the regional parliament.