ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) attended a meeting of political blocs at the parliament on Sunday, but has not yet made a decision on its participation in the cabinet.
The meeting on Sunday brought together the leaders of all the political blocs to set up the legislature’s committees. It was chaired by the parliament speakers.
This is the first time the PUK has attended a meeting or session of the new parliament, but is not an indication the party is ready to take a seat in the government, a spokesperson said.
The parliament convened on February 18 to elect a speaker and two deputies. The PUK did not attend and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) filled the speaker role “temporarily” until they can hand it over to the PUK.
“The PUK has not said that it will receive the post of parliament speaker,” Latif Omer, spokesperson for the party’s politburo, said in a press conference reported on by PUK Media.
“We are awaiting the PUK-KDP meeting in the coming days,” he added.
After long negotiations, the two traditional ruling parties signed a four-year agreement last week that unites them on major issues of power sharing and reforms, and paves the way for the formation of the next Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
The PUK, which came second in September’s parliamentary election with 21 seats, still wants to discuss divvying up government posts before it officially joins the KDP-led government.
Omer also said that they have established some committees for talks with the KDP.
The two parties lead the outgoing government, headed by KDP’s Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and PUK’s Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani.
The PUK was given 30 out of 165 seats on 14 committees on Sunday, coming after the KDP, which took 69 seats in partnership with the Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party. The 15th committee, legal affairs, was established on February 18.
Gorran, which came third in the elections, took 18 committee spots.
“Step by step a functioning parliament is getting more momentum,” Hemin Hawrami, deputy speaker of the parliament, tweeted.
The Kurdistan Region’s newest party doesn’t agree.
New Generation, which has 12 committee seats, objected to being shut out of the security and finance-related committees – Peshmerga, Interior, Finance, and Natural Resources. They had specifically requested spots in these key bodies.
The party’s leader, Shaswar Abdulwahid, warned in a tweet that if the KDP and PUK “continue to degrade the legislative branch, prevent New Generation from overseeing government and hold it accountable, then the democratic process will end tragically. Respecting democratic principles is not voluntary, it is obligatory.”
The parliamentary committees are responsible for introducing legislation and following up on issues that fall under their purview. There were 11 people nominated for each committee established on Sunday.
The parliament will vote on the nominees on Tuesday.
Most committee members are selected based on their experience and expertise, though this is not always the case.