ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) is ready to hold a high-level meeting with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to break the political deadlock over forming the next Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), a party official told The New Region.

The KDP and PUK emerged as the two largest parties in the October 2024 parliamentary elections, winning 39 and 23 seats respectively. However, negotiations to form the next KRG cabinet have repeatedly stalled.

A PUK leadership member told The New Region that the party's political bureau decided during a meeting on Tuesday that it is “ready” to hold meetings with the KDP, including high-level ones.

The source added that it remains unclear whether the meeting will take place next week, but said one is expected to be held “soon”.

In December 2024, the newly-elected Kurdish lawmakers were sworn in during the first session of the new parliament cycle. Despite this, no subsequent sessions have been held since, and the parliament has remained inactive for over a year and a half.

In the following months, the KDP and the PUK, as the elections’ chief victors, held several rounds of negotiations aimed at forming the next KRG cabinet, but the efforts failed to bear fruit. The KDP blamed the non-agreement on the PUK’s insistence on securing several top posts which the ruling party deemed not reflective of the results of the elections and the vote of the Kurdish public.

“Both sides have told us they are ready to resolve the issues,” Mohammed Haji Mahmoud, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Socialist Party, told The New Region, adding that efforts are underway to arrange a meeting between the two parties.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, who also serves as deputy leader of the KDP, on Sunday called on the Region's political parties to work toward reactivating parliament and forming the next KRG cabinet.

Earlier in July, PUK leader Bafel Talabani and Shaswar Abdulwahid, leader of the New Generation Movement (NGM), finalized a deal to work together as an alliance in the upcoming KRG cabinet, without explicitly stating intention to exclude the KDP from the cabinet.

In early June, the PUK had said it would negotiate with the KDP alongside the NGM as “one package.” However, the KDP has reportedly insisted on negotiating with the PUK and NGM as separate political parties rather than recognizing their alliance as a single bloc.