KDP’s Barzani received a high-level US delegation consisting of White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk, Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security Amos Hochstein, and US Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski, discussing the latest developments in the political climate of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
“A clean and fair election should be held in the Kurdistan Region this year and no excuse for postponing the elections will be accepted,” the KDP leader stressed during the meeting with the US officials, according to a statement from his office.
The Kurdistan Region’s ruling parties, the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), have been at loggerheads in recent months over the Region’s parliamentary elections, the transparency of the oil and local income of the provinces under their influence, and the assassination of a former PUK colonel in Erbil in October.
KDP’s Barzani said he wished meetings between the political parties of the Region would continue, in hopes of overcoming the challenges and supporting the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
McGurk arrived in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region on Monday, and convened with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, and Kurdistan Region’s President Nechirvan Barzani, prior to his meeting with the KDP leader.
Despite working together in the KRG, the two parties have established control over different parts of the Region, often being referred to as the “Yellow Zone” and “Green Zone.“ The KDP is dominant in Erbil and Duhok provinces, while the PUK rules Sulaimani and Halabja.
Members of the Kurdistan Region’s parliament in October voted by a majority to extend the current four-year term of the legislature by one year, after disagreements between the blocs over the current elections law and the electoral commission prevented the carrying out of new elections.
