ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—As negotiations to form the new cabinet of the Kurdish government draw to a close, political groups have nominated new names to fill ministerial positions while it is likely that some current ministers would remain in their posts.
Rudaw has learned from well-placed sources inside the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) that Ali Sindi, Ashti Hawrami, Dilshad Shahab and Pishtiwan Sadiq will be KDP ministers in the new cabinet.
Hawrami is Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s current Minister of Natural Resources, and Sindi is the Minister of Planning.
The KDP won the majority of the votes in the September 21 parliamentary elections. The party has asked Nechirvan Barzani to form a new cabinet which is likely to be announced by the end of this month.
It has taken Kurdish political parties months of negotiation on the distribution of ministerial posts as well the speaker of parliament and deputy prime minister.
According to the new arrangement, the KDP keeps the ministries of natural resources, the ministry of education, municipality and planning.
Overall seven parties will be part of the new cabinet. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Change Movement (Gorran), the Islamic Union (Yekgirtu), the Islamic League (Komal) and Turcoman and Christian blocs.
With 24 seats in parliament and the second largest number of votes in the September polls, Gorran has secured the ministries of Peshmerga, finance, trade and the ministry of religious affairs (Awqaf).
Official sources have told Rudaw that so far Gorran has presented only two candidates for the new posts. Mustafa Sayid Qadir as Minister of Peshmerga and Yousif Muhammad as speaker of parliament.
The PUK that was for the past several years KDP’s partner in government lost its position to Gorran in the last elections. However, a strategic agreement it signed with the KDP in 2005 has given it leverage in the negotiations and the new cabinet.
The PUK’s share in the new government include the ministries of culture, higher education, reconstruction, health and the ministry of martyrs and Anfal affairs.
It is believed that the PUK will keep Rekawt Hama Rasheed in his post as the Minister of Health and Ali Saeed as Minister of Higher Education.
Yekgiru with its 10 parliamentary seats has been given the ministries of electricity, the ministry of social affairs and the ministry of coordination between parliament and the president’s office. Salahaddin Babakir, Yekgirtu’s deputy leader, Omar Muhammad and Bahzad Zebari are believed to be Yekgirtu’s candidates for these posts.
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