ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Nine months since the regional parliamentary elections, the Kurdistan Region formed a new government under Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani on Wednesday, ending months of negotiations and brining all parties into a broad-based cabinet.
“The partners in this government will shoulder economic, financial and administrative responsibilities and will help implement all the decisions of the cabinet that will work on the trust of the people of this region,” said Barzani in his opening speech.
Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) won the majority of the votes in the region’s parliamentary elections last September and secured 38 seats in the legislature.
The Change Movement (Gorran) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) are the main partners in the government.
Qubad Talabani, the son of Jalal Talabani, the secretary general of the PUK, is deputy prime minister in the new government.
“The amount of time has tested people’s patience,” Haji Karwan, an MP from the Islamic Union (Yekgirtu) told Rudaw, referring to nine months of negotiations among political parties.
Haji Karwan said that the delay in forming a government had “an impact on the economy and security situation in the Kurdistan Region,” and that announcing the new cabinet on Wednesday “will put an end to the crisis of leadership within our government.”
On the first day of his government, Prime Minister Barzani said that economic plans will be the main focus of his administration.
“The government will focus on the industry and tourism and will support the private sector to play its role in revitalizing Kurdistan’s economy,” he said.
“We will also advance the investment sector in a way that will go hand in hand with Kurdistan’s social and economic progress,” he added.
The prime minister said that the Kurdistan Region should take advantage of its wealth of natural resources in order to “achieve economic independence and diversity its source of revenue.”
The Kurdish government was announced when the rest of Iraq is embroiled in heavy fighting between the Islamic State of Iraq (ISIS) and government troops.
The region has remained stable within its borders that are protected by the Peshmerga forces from any spillover of the Iraq war.
“I don't think the sectarian violence in Iraq put any pressure on the parties to rush in a new government,” said Haji Karwan. “It was already long overdue.”
