KDP, Gorran submit presidency bill, but PUK says it’s a 'wrong step'
Parliament leadership is calling on all MPs to reconvene on Saturday.
"Within the framework of agreements struck between the KDP and Gorran and other sides to ramp up steps to form the government and reactivating the … a bill to amend the presidency law and the mechanism of electing the president — until the Kurdistan constitution [officially] is drafted — was submitted with 68 signatures," Umed Khoshnaw, the head of the KDP bloc, said in a press conference.
The bill has eight articles also containing the restoration of all the powers of the presidency, revealed Khoshnaw, which have been distributed over the parliament, government and judiciary since Masoud Barzani’s term ended in November 2017.
The KDP and Gorran struck a government formation deal on February 16.
Gorran bloc head Ali Hama Salih said at the conference “what was really important for us was that we wanted the president to be elected by MPs, not through a popular vote. And that it is fixed in the bill."
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the New Generation, the Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal) and the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) did not sign the bill. All were present. The PUK bloc walked out.
The bill came on the heels of another failed round of talks between the KDP and PUK to strike a deal on government formation.
The KDP won the most seats (45) in the election, but not an outright majority so it needs a coalition in order to govern. It has struck a deal with Gorran that finished third in the election with 12 seats. Together they have an absolute majority in the 111-seat legislative body.
But PUK-KDP cooperation is crucial as the Kurdistan Region is politically divided the two, particularly over control of security forces.
The KDP and PUK signed a four-year political agreement in early March, but it lacked specifics on power-sharing.
Rewaz Fayaq, a PUK MP, said at the press conference the presidency matter has a "national dimension" and it should have been settled between all parties.
"We had a failed experience in the past when the parties tried to individually raise bills and petitions to amend the presidency," Fayaq said, recounting "in the past the KDP thought that the presidency matter had a political, constitutional and national dimension. It has to be settled between all the parties, not each individual party trying to amend it alone. We are now of the view, which the KDP had been calling for in the past, is now what we ask for."
The matter of presidency has been the point of contention between the Kurdish sides. Previously, Gorran and PUK maintained the position that the presidency law should be amended and the president be elected by parliament. The KDP, however, was opposed to the idea.
Fayaq said their MPs will not attend any parliamentary session, adding they will enter when they are told by their superiors.
The KDP and PUK have almost reached a deadlock in their talks about the latter's share in the new government, but argue about the distribution of government posts.
Luqman Wardi, another PUK MP, described the bill as a "wrong step" made forward in absence of his party.
"We will have reactions," he told Rudaw, without elaborating.
Referring in particular to the PUK, Khoshnaw said: "We really wanted all sides join in, but others opted not to. We thought we were very late…”
He revealed they will require two weeks to finish the process.
