Kurdistan’s PM-designate in Sulaimani to discuss formation of new cabinet

2019-06-17 00:00:00 - Source: Iraq News

Delegation headed by Prime Minister-designate Masrour Barzani (C) arrives in PUK Politburo in Sulaimani city, Iraqi Kurdistan, June 17, 2019. Photo: PUK

HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Iraqi Kurdistan prime minister-designate Masrour Barzani arrived in Sulaimani city on Monday to meet officials from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Change Movement (Gorran).

Barzani headed to the PUK Politburo upon his arrival to Sulaimani to discuss the formation of a new KRG cabinet with the party’s officials.

Barzani will also meet with officials from Gorran. He is also expected to visit the Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party.

The delegation headed by Barzani includes Dilshad Shahab, Hemin Hawrami, Omed Khoshnaw, and Firsat Sofi.

Masrour calls on parties to present candidates for new cabinet

Masrour Barzani, on Sunday formally invited political parties to present their candidates for ministerial posts in the next Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Barzani stated that he will attempt to finalize the formation of the new cabinet before reaching the legal deadline, 30 days from Wednesday when he was officially tasked with doing so. His comment came following a meeting with the Politburo of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Erbil Province’s town of Pirmam.

“The posts had already been decided among parties. Now, we will only receive the CVs of the candidates to discuss it,” Barzani told reporters following his meeting with the KDP.

“The candidates should be qualified and have the principles needed to become ministers.”

On Sunday Mahmoud Mohammed, the spokesperson for the KDP told reporters that his party’s candidates will be ready in the coming weeks to play their part in completing the cabinet within the allotted time.

“We hope the meetings and the government formation process will end in a week or 10 days,” said Mohammed, whose party took first place with a wide margin in the Sept. 2018 regional elections.

In September 2018, Kurdistan Region held its parliamentary election, with parties competing for 111 seats in total. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) won the election by securing 45 seats and was followed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) with 21 seats and Gorran (Change) Movement with 12.

He also commented on the situation in the disputed province of Kirkuk, including the election of a new governor, about which the PUK insisted the KDP sign an agreement aimed at resolving their differences on both Kirkuk and government formation.

Meanwhile a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leadership Saman Garmiani said on Sunday that his party would not take part in the formation of the new Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cabinet without a solution to the Kirkuk governorship.

Garmian said on his official Facebook page that the PUK was not ready to take part in the new cabinet if the issue of selecting a new governor for Kirkuk would not be resolved.

“It was the decision from the PUK leadership signed unanimously,” he added.

The PUK awaits the expected imitative by the KDP’s delegations in Sulaimani regarding selecting a candidate for the Kirkuk governorship, later it will decide whether to participate or not in the formation of the new KRG cabinet.

After the Kurdistan Region’s Parliament named Masrour Barzani as prime minister-designate with 87 votes out of 97 attending lawmakers, Masrour’s cousin, President of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani on Wednesday issued a formal letter asking Barzani to form the new KRG cabinet.

Iraq News Now