ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The new Kurdistan cabinet will be formed this month, with or without the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, officials warned, as the PUK itself said it was prepared to boycott the government altogether unless its key demands are met.
More than six months after elections for the autonomous Kurdistan Region’s own legislature, the three main parties that gained the highest votes still have not ended their bickering over ministerial and other senior posts in the next Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq.
As the highest vote-getter, the dominant Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has been charged with forming a new coalition government. That has not been easy because its strategic partner in the outgoing government, the PUK, fell in third place at the polls, behind the opposition Change Movement (Gorran).
Nevertheless, KDP and Gorran officials say, the PUK has been unwilling to accept this new reality and continues to demand a greater say in the new government than it now deserves.
Officials say that the KDP’s latest proposal over positions is to keep the Interior Ministry for itself, give Gorran the Peshmarga Ministry and offer the PUK the directorship of Asayish as well as the post of the President’s Assistant for Peshmarga Affairs.
The PUK has reportedly rejected that proposal.
Imad Ahmed, a politburo member of the PUK, reiterated that his party insists on getting either the interior or Peshmarga ministerial posts. “The PUK said we must have one of these two ministries, but till now nothing formal has been told to PUK in this regard,” he said.
Ahmed previously told the media, “We will become the opposition if one of those two ministries is not given to the PUK.”
Another PUK politburo member was more frank: “If we do not get one of these two ministries, I won’t say that we will join the opposition; we will not participate and stay out of the government.”
PUK leaders met Tuesday with Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani in what is said to have been a last-ditch effort to bring the PUK into the new government. Meanwhile, KDP’s candidate for the post of prime minister, Nechirvan Barzani, told Rudaw that the PUK is expected to provide its final answer this week.
Gorran has declared its willingness to accept the Ministry of Peshmarga, but has opposed the formation of new “assistant” positions at the interior and Peshmarga ministries for the sake of PUK.
“The position of Assistant to the Kurdistan President for Peshmarga Affairs will not be accepted in any form or shape, because we do not support creating new posts for the sake of pleasing any group or individual,” a Gorran member said after the party met on Tuesday.
“If the Ministry of Interior is going to have a deputy, that deputy should be from Gorran, or that post should not exist at all,” said the Gorran member.
The KDP has stressed it will no longer wait to form the new cabinet, saying it will declare the new government before Iraq’s nationwide parliamentary elections on April 30.
“The government cannot be delayed anymore. If we could not form a broad-based government, then a majority-led government must be formed,” the KDP warned.
“We will not delay forming the new cabinet anymore, because the KDP cannot wait any longer,” a KDP leadership member said.
He warned: “If the PUK does not participate in the new cabinet, the government will be formed regardless, and the posts that are to be given to the PUK will remain vacant until the Iraqi parliamentary elections. If the PUK held its position of nonparticipation after the parliamentary elections, then the posts would be filled.”
According to unconfirmed reports obtained by Rudaw, PUK senior Kosrat Rasul Ali has demanded the proposed assistant’s position at the Peshmarga Ministry for his son, Shalaw. But Jaffar Sheikh Mustafa, the current minister of Peshmarga, is said to be eyeing the post for himself.
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