ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Bafel Talabani on Tuesday met with the Coordination Framework’s candidate for Iraq’s premiership Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, as the government formation process in the country shows signs of slowly moving forward.
Talabani and Sudani discussed the latest developments in Iraq’s political stalemate, stressing the need to “unify the national efforts towards creating a powerful and serving government that would protect the rights of all,” according to a statement from the PUK leader’s office.
The PUK leader emphasized to the PM candidate that the constitutional rights of Kurds must be implemented, as “we will never compromise the rights of our people,” the statement added.
The meeting comes Iraq’s Parliamentary Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi announced on Tuesday that a parliamentary session will be held to elect Iraq’s next president on Thursday, following one year of failed government formation efforts due to continued disagreements between the political blocs of the legislative body.
The KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have been at loggerheads over who should become the next president of Iraq, with the KDP fielding its own candidate, Reber Ahmed, to challenge PUK’s incumbent and sole candidate Barham Salih for the post.
The current legislature has attempted to elect the next Iraqi president on three different occasions since the start of the year, but has failed to do so on account of not meeting the legal quorum needed to hold the session.
Sudani was selected as the pro-Iran Coordination Framework’s candidate for the PM position in July. His nomination incited strong reactions from angry supporters of charismatic Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who stormed Iraq’s parliament building and staged a sit-in in Baghdad’s Green Zone in protest.
